Track teams travel to ACCs

Today is the second day of the Outdoor ACC Track and Field Championships. Starting with the competition yesterday and continuing through late tomorrow, Tech track and field will compete among some of the best in the nation as they battle for the conference championship.

"Overall we have had a great outdoor season so far. We have had some fantastic performances," said women's coach Alan Drosky in an interview on Tuesday. "Our strength is sprints, hurdles, jumps, and we have some fantastic athletes that are nationally competitive in those areas."

Coming off a strong performance at the Clemson Invitational, Tech looks to turn some heads with their performances today and tomorrow.

"We had a lot of good performances that weekend. I think it really helped to try and get everyone focused," said senior sprinter Brian Ford after practice Tuesday. "We had a couple ACC schools there that are looking to be some of our major competition when we get to the ACC meet, and we fared pretty well against them."

Two weeks ago at the Clemson Invitational, Ford, a native of Ashland, Va., ran an NCAA Region qualifying time of 21.18 in the men's 200-meter dash finishing second overall. Ford also ran a time of 47.57 in the men's 400 to place him in third and ran a leg of the men's 4x400m relay, clocking a season-best time of 3:10.24 to finish in second place.

Ford placed well at the Indoor ACC Championships in February but failed to finish the 4x400 relay at the event because of a cramp. This time he has no intention of slowing down.

"I am definitely looking to come out of this ACC meet the same way I did indoors and maybe place higher in some aspects. I definitely want to be able to finish the relay this time," Ford said. "I know how bad coach wants that title in the 4x400. That is what Georgia Tech has been known for for so many years. If we could catch that title it would be great."

Another strong performance was garnered by the women's 4x100m relay team of Dana Rogers, Ashlee Kidd, Lapsley and Shantrell Moss, clocking a time of 44.70 to log a first-place finish for the Jackets.

"In the 4x100, we should win. Our competition is mostly Miami," Rogers said after practice Tuesday. "[UNC] has some things that we don't have like the distances and the pole vault, but we should back that up with hurdles and the 4x100."

This was complemented with performances from seniors Neil McDonagh and Montrell Person, sophomore Cristan Duvall and freshman Derek Hoye, who all registered first-place finishes for the men.

Posting season-best times were McDonagh with 3:51.02 in the 1500-meter run, Duvall with 9:20.49 in the 3,000-steeplechase, and Hoye with a time of 1:51.77 in the 800-meter run. Person posted 13.90 in the 110-meter high hurdles.

"We are looking pretty good. We are all healthy," Rogers said. "We have a lot of people running in the sprint events and the 100 and the hurdles. So we look pretty deep in each sprinting event."

Tech has seen improving performances at the Outdoor ACC Championships in the last few years. Last year the men placed fourth, with the women finishing second-their highest finish ever. In 2003 the men took fourth, and the women posted a fifth-place finish.

"The general consensus is: we have struggled a lot with injuries this year, and that gets some people's heads down." Ford said. "But I think, for the most part, everybody has bounced back and gotten their focus back. I think everybody has got their heads up and in the right place to go out there and have a good ACC meet."

Track and field stand-out Chaunte Howard also looks to extend her own winning streak by winning her 25th consecutive women's collegiate high jump competition. At the Clemson Invitational Howard blew away the competition clearing the bar at 6'2.25"

"Chaunte is a heck of a competitor and she loves that challenge. She loves that pressure. She loves that spotlight, and she kind of thrives in it," Drosky said. "We couldn't be more happy with what Chaunte has done."

High jump is not Howard's only event, however. At the Clemson Invitational she ran a season-best time of 11.87 in the 100-meter dash to come in second and posted a mark of 19'6.75" in the women's long jump to garner a third-place finish.

"It is not just the high jumps that Chaunte does. She long jumps. She triple jumps. She runs the hurdles. And if you [were to] ask Chaunte, 'We need somebody to throw the javelin,' Chaunte would say, 'I'll do it.'" Drosky said.

"It is not just the high jumping that she wins. That would be enough, but she does so much more. She is just so versatile as an athlete," he said.

The team is on the road again next week when they travel to the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.