Men’s Track and Field competes at ACC Indoors

February 19, 1999

BLACKSBURG, Va. – North Carolina leads the ACC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships with 41 points after Friday’s competition. Florida State is second with 27 points, N.C. State is third with 24 points, and Clemson is fourth with 19 points.

In the field event finals held on Friday, North Carolina took the top three positions in the shot put. Senior Allen Bradd successfully defended his championship with a mark of 57’1″, and sophomore Ian Douglas placed second at 54’7 1/2″. Sophomore James Wagstaff placed third for the Tar Heels with a throw of 54’0″. In the long jump competition, freshman Darius Jones of Florida State placed first with a mark of 24’8 1/4″, and North Carolina freshman Marcus O’Neal was second with a jump of 24’7 1/4″.

The finals of the 5,000m and the distance medley relay were held Friday evening. Chan Pons of N.C. State won the 5,000m with a provisional qualifying time of 14:07.96, while senior Nolan Swanson of Wake Forest was second at 14:20.75. The N.C. State team of Abdul Alzindani, Tyrone Dozier, Robbie Howell and Chris Dugan won the distance medley relay in 9:54.23, just .13 off the ACC record. Florida State’s team of Aaron Scheer, Kenyon Langston, Patrick Brett and Michael Maier was second with a time of 10:00.64. The top two finishers in the finals of all events earn all-ACC honors.

The preliminaries of several running events were completed during Friday’s competition. Clemson sophomore Sultan Tucker led all runners in the 60m hurdles with a provisional qualifying time of 7.80, and Butch McCleeland of N.C. State was second at 7.94. In the 60m, Clemson junior Shawn Crawford led all qualifiers with a provisional qualifying time of 6.71, and North Carolina’s Marcus O’Neal had the second-fastest qualifying time at 6.79.

Clemson placed five runners in the finals of the 200m, including Crawford, who ran an NCAA Automatic Qualifying time of 20.80. North Carolina senior Dominic Demeritte had the second-fastest finish with a provisional time of 21.07. In the 400m, Clemson freshman Ato Modibo had the fastest qualifying time with a provisional qualifying time of 46.88, and Georgia Tech’s Jonas Motiejunas was second with a time of 47.28.

Duke junior Kyle Leonard led all qualifiers in the 800m (1:53.03), and Virginia senior Damond Cromer turned in the second-fastest qualifying time at 1:53.15. In the mile run, Aaron Saft of N.C. State had the fastest qualifying time at 4:11.64, while Clemson senior Esteban Diaz was second with a time of 4:15.93.

Field event competition begins Saturday at 10 a.m., and the finals of the running events will commence at 1 p.m.