Indoor Track Weekly Release

Feb. 14, 2000

TIGER MEN COMPETE AT SPRINT INVITATIONAL Senior Shawn Crawford won the 200m with the fastest time in the world this year to highlight the Tigers performance at the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas. Crawford broke the Clemson record with his 20.62 sprint. The previous Tiger best was a 20.66 by James Trapp when the won the national championship in that event in 1992. Crawford’s time was also an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA meet, which will be held at Arkansas in early March. Clemson had a provisional NCAA qualifying run in the distance medley relay. The all sophomore team of Mike Connelly, Ato Modibo, Ryan Demers and Fred Sharpe, raced to a 9:44.44 time. Clemson has never had an All-America performance in this event.

WOMEN COMPETE IN LITTLEJOHN The Clemson women’s track and field teams competed in a home meet on Sunday at Littlejohn Coliseum. Tiger sophomore KeKe Elder won the 55m hurdles with a time of 7.71h, and junior Nyjla Littlejohn was second at 7.75h. Freshman Marcia Smith won the 55m dash with a time of 6.95h and finished third with a time of 24.49h in the 200m. Elder posted a time of 7.31 in the preliminary competition of the 55m dash. Littlejohn finished second in the 500m at 1:16.31h, followed by junior Jennifer Meador (1:19.66h) and freshman April Brunson (1:20.00h). Junior LaShonda Cutchin placed second with a time of 2:15.61h in the 800m, and sophomore Helena Janecic was sixth in the event with a time of 2:22.15h. Freshman Lauren Nicholson finished sixth with a time of 59.82h in the 400m, and freshman Stephanie Zabel was sixth at 11:10.37h in the 3,000m. In the field events, freshman Joana Costa placed second in the pole vault after clearing 11’6″. Sophomore Sheri Smith placed seventh with a mark of 16’11 1/4″ in the long jump and was fourth with a triple jump of 37’6 1/4″. Nicholson was third with a high jump of 5’2″.

WOMEN’S DISTANCE RUNNERS TRAVEL TO ARKANSAS The Tiger distance runners competed in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, over the weekend. Senior Erika van Reenen placed third in the 5,000m with a time of 16:54.87, and senior Beth Ahern was fifth in the 3,000m at 9:54.14. Senior Anne Stowell was sixth in the mile with a time of 5:07.46, and junior Shannon Schoppman was 15th with a time of 2:21.06 in the 800m.

TIGER MEN POST AUTOMATIC TIMES Senior Shawn Crawford won the 200m at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with a time of 20.62, the fastest time in the world so far this year. His time is an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Championships. Junior Sultan Tucker won the 55m hurdles with an automatic qualifying time of 7.21 at the Gator Invitational . The time is the third-fastest in the nation. Sophomore Ato Modibo of Beltsville, MD, recorded an automatic qualifying time of 46.31 to win the 400m at the Pepsi Indoor Invitational. The time is currently the second-fastest in the nation. Modibo, the 1999 400m Indoor National Champion, will compete at the NCAA Championships March 10-11 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

TIGERS RECORD PROVISIONAL TIMES Several Clemson track and field athletes have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Crawford ran the 60m in 6.64 at the Clemson Opener, the sixth-fastest time in the nation. Freshman David Collins recorded a time of 6.66 in the 60m at the Clemson Invitational to rank ninth nationally. Senior Charles Allen posted a provisional time of 7.36 in the 55m hurdles at the Gator Invitational which places him 16th in the nation in the event. The Tiger 4x400m relay team of Allen, Otto Spain, Crawford and Modibo ranks third nationally after recording a time of 3:10.01 at the Gator Invitational. The all sophomore distance medley relay team of Mike Connelly, Ato Modibo, Ryan Demers and Fred Sharpe, raced to a 9:44.44 time in Fayetteville, also a provisional qualifying time.

TEAMS PREPARE FOR ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS The ACC Championships will be held February 18-19 in Blacksburg, VA. The Clemson men won last year’s championship with 162 points. The win was the Tigers’ third-straight and their seventh in the 1990s. The Tigers claimed first place in nine events at the meet. The Tiger women’s team placed second with 100 points. North Carolina won the meet with 121 points, giving the Tar Heels their seventh-straight championship. Clemson won the ACC Championship in four events and had six All-ACC performances.