Track & Field Season Underway with Orange & Purple Winter Classic

Dec. 4, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – Alex Padgett won a pair of throwing events Saturday to highlight several individual event victories by Clemson athletes at the season-opening Orange & Purple Winter Classic. Clemson athletes won events across the board in the meet that serves as the school’s annual indoor season opener.

“It was a productive first meet for us,” said Lawrence Johnson, Clemson’s Director of Track & Field. “We always use the opener to examine our own squad and see what certain kids look like when you put them in a uniform. We put up some good numbers today and have a lot to look forward to this season.”

Padgett easily took home first-place finishes in the men’s throwing events. He won the shot put with a mark of 57’2.75″ and then followed with an even more convincing victory in the weight throw. He posted a throw of 64’1″ in that event. Clemson took the top four spots in the shot put and two of the top three in the weight throw.

Briana Johnson (8.60) was the team’s top finisher in fourth. Janice Jackson (8.69) successfully returned from ACL surgery that forced her to miss the 2009-10 season, placing sixth overall. Jasmine Edgerson (8.72) was seventh in the final.

Warren Fraser, a sophomore from the Bahamas, won the men’s 300m dash competition. He had a time of 34.98, which held off runner-up Justin Murdock (35.67). In the 500m competition, Miller Moss (1:05.68) was the Tigers’ top finisher in fourth place. Marlena Wesh, a transfer from the University of Oklahoma, was fourth in the 300m dash on the women’s side with a time of 39.16.

Ryan Mangone was seventh in the men’s 800 meter race with a time of 1:59.05. In the women’s competition, Lisa Girard also took seventh place. The freshman compiled a time of 2:25.45 as she crossed the finish line. Alexa Neiling won the women’s mile with a time of 5:22.55, while fellow freshman Aaron Ramirez was runner-up in the men’s mile with a time of 4:25.02.

Clemson produced a pair of runner-up performances in the 4x400m relay. The men’s team of Jordan Rispress, Moss, La’Mont Jackson and Kyle Younkin (3:17.99) fell just shy in its bid to defeat Charlotte. The women’s group of Whitney Fountain, Wesh, Jasmine Brunson and Karine Farias (3:51.64) was second to an unattached group of athletes.

Michael Kopanski, a freshman from Dacula, GA, won the men’s pole vault competition in his first collegiate meet. The 6-foot-2 Kopanski was the only participant Saturday to clear 15’7″. In the women’s pole vault, freshman Lauren Terstappen of Phoenixville, PA cleared 12’1.5″ on her first try and actually tied Georgia Tech’s Joanna Wright at the height, but she was named runner-up due to missing the bar at a previous height. Her clearance is already eighth-best in Clemson women’s indoor track & field history.

The Tiger teams return to training for several weeks before competing in the Clemson Invitational on Jan. 7-8 at home.