Men’s Track & Field – 2007 Outdoor Season Review

June 14, 2007

Tigers Finish 25th at NCAA Championships Clemson recorded its first top-25 team finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since the 2002 season. The Tigers were 25th with a total of 12 points. Clemson was 15th at the national meet indoors, giving the program a pair of top-25 finishes in the same season for the first time since 2002.

The Tigers finished ahead of some nationally prominent programs, including East Region foes Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Five Tigers Earn Outdoor All-America Honors Clemson had five student-athletes out of the nine that traveled to the NCAA Championships earn All-America honors. Travis Padgett led the way with a pair of certificates, giving him four in his already decorated career. He was the third-place finisher in the 100m dash, the second consecutive year he has finished in the top four in that event at the outdoor meet.

Padgett also ran first leg for the 4x100m relay team that placed seventh in the final. He teamed with C.J. Spiller to produce a time of 40.07. The Tigers were a bit short-handed in the event, as star sprinter Jacoby Ford had to sit out the event due to injury. It marked the first All-America honor for Brown, Mills, and Spiller.

Mitch Greeley was the fifth student-athlete from Clemson to earn an All-America certificate. The Rock Hill, SC native finished tied for fourth in the pole vault with a clearance of 17’6.5″. It was the second honor of his career, but first at the outdoor national meet.

Clemson Finishes Sixth at East Region Championships The Tiger track & field program was sixth in the team standings at the NCAA East Regional in Gainesville, FL on May 25-26. George Fields and Mitch Greeley earned automatic invitations to the NCAA Championships following top-five finishes, while the 400m relay team was runner-up for the second straight year.

Despite disappointing results in the 100m dash, Jacoby Ford and Travis Padgett ran the first two legs of the 4x100m relay team that posted a season-best time of 39.15 in the event final. The Tigers’ group was also comprised of Cowin Mills and Corey Brown.

Greeley was runner-up in the pole vault after establishing a personal best in the event with a 17’9″ clearance. It marked the first time in his career he earned an automatic spot in the NCAA nationals via a top-five regional performance.

Fields was fourth in the long jump and was just centimeters away from claiming the East Region title in the event. The sophomore earned his first trip to the national meet after a jump of 24’7″.

Matt Clark was sixth in the final of the 5000m with a personal best time of 13:57.27. He technically earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, though, after a runner from La Salle opted to enter the 10,000m instead of the 5000m. That elevated Clark to the fifth and final automatic spot from the East Region.

Itay Magidi was eighth in the steeplechase and thoroughly dominated the second section of the event. However, his time was not quite good enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships.

Tigers Second at ACC Championships for Third Straight Year For the third consecutive season, Clemson was second in the team standings at the ACC Outdoor Championships. The meet was held in College Park, MD on April 19-21. Florida State captured its third straight outdoor title with 166.5 points, while the Tigers had a total of 118.

Three student-athletes earned individual titles, while the 4x400m relay team earned its first outdoor conference crown since the 1996 season. C.J. Spiller (100m), Padgett (200m), Clark (5000m), Jason Bell (triple jump), Ryan Koontz (decathlon).

Padgett ran a 10.22 in the final to claim his second straight 100m title. He is the first Clemson men’s athlete to win back-to-back league titles in that event since Greg Moses achieved the feat in 1985 and 1986.

Koontz scored in three different events for the Tigers, led by a second-place showing in the decathlon. He also was fourth in the 110m hurdles and seventh in the high jump.

The 4x400m relay team of Cowin Mills, Andrew Porter, Travis Swaggard, and Corey Brown posted a season-best, regional-qualifying time of 3:09.89. Their time was also a Kehoe Track facility record.

Langley Named an East Region Assistant Coach-of-the-YearJosh Langley of the men’s track & field team was named East Region Assistant Coach-of-the-Year for jumps and combined events. The announcement was made by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Langley, in his first season with the Tiger program, coached three student-athletes to berths in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He helped junior Adam Linkenauger, a high jumper, also earned an invitation to the national meet under Langley’s supervision.

He coached Linkenauger to his fourth consecutive ACC outdoor high jump title in April. He also led Fields, Greeley, Jason Bell, and Ryan Koontz to All-ACC honors at the conference meet in College Park, MD.

Padgett, Porter Earn ACC Performer-of-the-Week HonorsTravis Padgett and Andrew Porter both earned ACC Performer-of-the-Week accolades during the 2007 outdoor season. Padgett was honored by the league office on April 9 after posting regional-qualifying marks in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay at the Clemson Invitational. He had a season-best time of 10.05 in the 100m and won the event. Porter earned the accolade on April 16 following a regional-qualifying, first-place performance in the 400m hurdles at the Solid Orange Classic. He posted a then season-best time of 51.95 in the event. Porter would go on to record a personal best of 51.36 at regionals.