Kai Maull Earns All-American Honors

June 4, 1999

BOISE, Idaho – Clemson freshman Kai Maull placed eighth to earn All-American honors in the long jump competition and lead the Tigers in the second day of the 1999 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Boise, Idaho, on Thursday. Maull was the last athlete to qualify for the national championships, entering the meet tied for 17th. He posted a personal-best jump of 257 1/4″ in the preliminaries to advance to the finals.

“This meet was unbelievable,” said Maull following the meet. “I couldnt ask for a better atmosphere. Coach (Ralph) White, our sprint coach, predicted that if I made the meet I would score, and I did. I tried to do the same thing I have done all season, and now Im an All-American.”

“Im very excited for Kai,” said mens head coach Bob Pollock, “first of all for getting to the NCAAs and secondly for being the last qualifier coming into the meet then competing like he did. A goal of his was to be an All-American, and he achieved that goal. The good news is he was the only freshman in the finals, and we will have him for three more years.”

Freshman Ato Modibo, the 400m indoor national champion, placed second in his heat and third overall with a time of 45.66 in the semifinals of the 400m to advance to Saturdays finals. “The key to the finals will be to try to set the pace,” he said following Thursday evenings race. “Whoever sets the pace for the first 300m has the key to the race. The last 100m will be interesting.”

The mens 4x400m relay team of Charles Allen, Kenny Franklin, Davidson Gill and Ato Modibo, the indoor national champion team, won its heat with a time of 3:05:05. The Tigers advance to Saturdays finals with the third-best time overall.

Sophomore Sultan Tucker and freshman Todd Matthews competed in the preliminaries of the 110m hurdles on Thursday. Tucker posted a time of 14.30 in his heat after straining a hamstring off the last hurdle. Matthews slipped coming out of the starting blocks and finished his race in 14.16. Both athletes failed to advance to the semifinals.

The Clemson womens 4x400m relay team of Shonda Cutchin, Nikkie Bouyer, Simone Brown and Shekera Weston placed fifth in Heat 1 and failed to advance to the finals.

CLEMSON SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY

        6:10 p.m.       Womens 4x100m relay        6:20 p.m.       Mens 4x100m relay        6:30 p.m.       Womens 400m Hurdles (Nikkie Bouyer)        7:40 p.m.       Mens 800m (Davidson Gill)        8:35 p.m.       Womens 200m (Shekera Weston)        8:45 p.m.       Mens 200m (Shawn Crawford)