Track & Field Travels to Blacksburg, VA for Virginia Tech Elite Meet

Feb. 4, 2010

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson track & field teams will travel to Blacksburg, VA on Thursday for this weekend’s Virginia Tech Elite Meet. Ten teams from within the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference will compete in the two-day meet, which begins Friday at 5 PM at Rector Field House on the Hokies’ campus.

Five men’s teams and four women’s teams ranked in the latest top 25 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association will be in Blacksburg this weekend. Clemson stood firm at No. 7 in the latest women’s rankings released by the coaches organization earlier this week.

The action gets underway Friday at 5:00 PM with multiple events. Jenna Baker, who sat out cross country season in the fall, will compete in the women’s 3K to start the track events. In the field, the men’s long jump and women’s long jump, pole vault and weight throw are slated to begin at 5:00 as well. Patricia Mamona and April Sinkler lead a group of five in the women’s long jump.

On the track Friday, the qualifying heats for the 60m hurdles and 60m dash will be held between 5:35 and 6:10. Clemson has one of the top performers in the nation in the women’s 60m hurdles in Brianna Rollins, who last weekend set the school record with an 8.17. On the men’s side, two-sport star Spencer Adams looks to improve upon his season-best NCAA time of 7.86. The 60m hurdle finals will be held at 7:10 (men) and 7:15 (women).

In the 60m dash, freshman Stormy Kendrick has posted provisional NCAA times. She will be joined by senior Kristine Scott in the heats at 6:00, followed by Warren Fraser and Justin Murdock in the men’s 60 prelims at 6:10. Fraser and Murdock are both looking for their first NCAA qualifying times of the season in the event.

Zach Berg, fresh off a record-setting performance in the men’s 35-pound weight throw a week ago at the Clemson Games, will lead the Tigers in the event Friday at 7:00. The women’s high jump will be held at 8:00 Friday, an event that features a pair of NCAA qualifiers from Clemson in Sinkler and Linda Buchholz.

The field events get started early Saturday, with the unseeded men’s pole vault at 10 AM. Xavier Tromp rounds out the Tigers’ field event action Saturday with the seeded pole vault at 1 PM. He jumped 17’7″ in his first trip to Blacksburg three weeks ago.

Saturday’s track action includes both the men’s and women’s distance medley and 4x400m relays, as well as the 200m dash invitational sections. The women’s DMR gets started at 1 PM, followed by the men at 1:15. The women’s 4×4 invitational section will be held at 3:15. Clemson’s women have a pair of NCAA qualifying times in the event this season. The men look to join the women as NCAA qualifiers Saturday afternoon as well.

The seeding for the invitational sections of the 200 and 400m dash events will be released late Thursday. Clemson will have six females in the 200m and four in the 400m. The men’s team will feature four in the 200m dash and three in the quarter mile. The invitational section of the 400 will be held Friday, with the 200 on Saturday.