Tigers’ 4x100m Relay Team Sets ACC, School Record In Second-Place Finish

May 31, 2002

BATON ROUGE, LA – The Clemson men’s track and field team is tied for 17th place entering the final day of competition at the 2002 NCAA Track & Field Championships. Clemson has eight points after the first three days of this year’s Championships.

The highlight of day three for the Tigers was the second-place finish posted by Clemson’s 4x100m relay team. Airese Currie, Otto Spain and Dwight Thomas set a school-record time, breaking the tape in 38.82. The 400m relay team crushed the former school record of 38.92 set by Williams, Wheeler, Chambers and Allen in 1997 at the NCAA Championships in Bloomington, IL. It is the third time (1991, 1997, 2002) that a Clemson 4x100m relay team has finished second at the NCAA Championships. That time also set an Atlantic Coast Conference record, as the former record was 38.92, held by Clemson’s Williams, Wheeler, Chambers and Allen.

Thomas also competed in the semifinals of the 100m dash, posting the second-fastest time of the race. His mark of 10.17 gives him sole possession of fifth-place on Clemson’s all-time best list in that event. Thomas was tied for fifth on the all-time list with his 10.18 mark set in Thursday’s preliminaries.

In the semifinals of the 110m hurdles, Todd Matthews recorded a personal-best time of 13.56 to advance to Saturday’s finals. Matthews’ time was an improvement on his mark of 13.57 set in 2000 at the NCAA Championships in Durham, NC, and was the second-fastest time set in Friday’s semifinals.

On Saturday, Thomas will compete in the finals of the 100m and 200m dashes, while Matthews will compete in the finals of the 110m hurdles.