CLEMSON, S.C. – For the third time this season, junior Joe Cline achieved his personal best in the weight throw. Today, Cline threw for 18.06m at day two of the Bob Pollock Invitational, which was held at the Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex. With the mark, Cline holds firm at No. 8 all-time in the Clemson record book and placed third among collegiate throwers in the event.
“It’s a great sign because with the way our team is constructed, we’ve always been good on the speed, mid-distance and jumps side, but having a balanced team is the best approach to winning at the conference level,” said Clemson head coach Mark Elliott. “Between this weekend and the Tiger Paw Invite on Feb. 8-9, we’ll have an even better idea of what we should look forward to at the conference championship and beyond.”
Also in the field for the Tigers, was sophomore Harleigh White in the women’s triple jump. White initially achieved her personal best on her first jump of the day with a leap of 12.45m (40-10.25). But the sophomore surpassed that on her sixth and final jump when she flew for a distance of 12.72m (41-8.75) to place second among collegiate jumpers. White’s mark of 41-8.75 is nearly a foot further than her previous PR entering today’s competition.
On the track, the Tigers saw another big outing from Rebekah Smith. The junior, who ran her season best in the 60m dash yesterday, followed that up with a solid 23.52 in her second 200m race this season, which is also Smith’s season best.
In the men’s 200m dash, newcomer Fabian Hewitt registered his indoor PR of 21.48 seconds. Hewitt won heat No. 2 and placed third overall.
Both 4x400m relay groups had their best races of the 2018-19 season. The women, which consisted of Ebony Williams, Kendra Clarke, Lakeisha Warner and Kamryn McIntosh clocked a season best time of 3:43.16, improving by more than eight seconds from their previous season best. On the men’s side, Deonte Tolbert, John Lewis, Travis Hugg and Malik Epps placed third overall for Clemson’s A-team. The group, which ran 3:12.49, was led by Tolbert who posted a team-best 46.98 split. Hewitt ran the second-fastest split, 47.73, among the Tiger men for Clemson’s B-team. Hewitt ran the opening leg of heat No. 3.
“They had a good day. We expected them to run a little bit better this week. Sometimes we put two or three teams out there, which helps gives us a good idea of where everyone’s at. So, we’re slowly but surely figuring out who our top four-to-six people are. I thought Travis and Fabian were the difference makers today.”
Up next, Clemson heads to Columbia, South Carolina for the Gamecocks’ Carolina Challenge Feb. 1-2.
For complete coverage of the Tiger track & field team, follow @ClemsonTrackXC on Twitter and Instagram, and ‘Clemson University Track & Field’ on Facebook.
