CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson University track & field head coach Mark Elliott announced the additions of LaFranz Campbell and Marcus Parker on Wednesday. Campbell is a transfer from Wiley College, located in Marshall, Texas, and specializes in the 110mH. Parker is a short sprinter transferring from Eastern New Mexico, a Division II program in Portales, New Mexico. Both Campbell and Parker are set to officially join the Tigers’ track & field program for the upcoming semester in January.
Campbell won the 2018 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field 110mH and 4x100m relay titles this past May. He also won the 2018 Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Outdoor Track & Field 110mH and 4x100m relay titles in April. Campbell’s personal best of 13.80 seconds would be the fastest time by a Clemson 110-meter hurdler since 2015. His PR would also have made him the runner-up at the 2018 ACC Outdoor Championships and qualified him for the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“His 13.80 PR would have scored big for us at the conference meet last year,” said Elliott. “He’ll get experience here indoors, but running 13.80, you can extrapolate how well he could do indoors. He was also a member of the 4x100m team [at Wiley College], so that’s a big addition for us to find someone like him, who will also have three years of eligibility. From a conference and national standpoint, he is a national caliber athlete.”
Parker is a Division II All-American after earning runner-up status in the 200m dash and third place in the 100m dash at the 2018 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Parker achieved his fastest time in the 100m dash at the 2018 Texas Relays, where he clocked 10.17. In the 200m dash, Parker PR’d with a time of 20.36 seconds at the West Texas A&M Invitational. His career bests in both 100m and 200m dashes would have been good for runner-up status at last year’s ACC Outdoor Championships and advanced him to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championship meet.
“The last person we had that ran in [Marcus’s] realm was Tevin Hester. People can go back and look at Tevin Hester’s history with everything he accomplished while he was here. Marcus is also a big addition to this team, which will bolster our push to get back to the conference championship level and move on up to the national meets.”
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