Terrapins To Compete at 2009 ACC Indoor Championships
2/25/2009 7:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Women
Maryland will hope to open the weekend on the right foot, with strong showings from their throwers. This season, Ashley Williams has dominated both the shot put and weight throw events with ECAC-qualifying marks. With the five best marks of the season in both events, the senior will look for a strong performance in the shot put while beating her mark of 44-6 made at last year's conference championships. Though she wasn't a competitor for the Terps in the weight throw at last season's championships, Williams will lead as a strong competitor as she has thus far this season.
In the absence of ACC Champion Toni Aluko, freshman Ashley Hendrix has had solid performances for the Terps in the long jump. With an ECAC-qualifying jump of 19-2.75, Hendrix leads the pack of talented jumpers, which includes Kiani Profit and Chanel Williams. The freshman holds the three best marks of the season.
Senior Chanel Williams and sophomore Kiani Profit, both of whom have already qualified for the ECAC Championships this season, will compete for the women's team in the pentathlon in addition to competing in the 400 meters.
At last year's ACC Indoor Championships, Michelle Fedrick placed ninth in the 400 meters. The junior's season-best time of 54.41 in the event qualifies her for the ECAC Championships and the NCAA Provisionals. Fedrick currently holds he top three best times in the event and has placed first at three consecutive meets.
Newcomers, Alexis Booker and DeAnna Brown are expected to have solid performances for the Terps in the 60-meters. With the season best time, Booker, a transfer student from the University of Florida, qualifies for the ECAC Championships twice this season. With a time of 7.70, Brown, a freshman is also an ECAC qualifier.
DeAnna Brown is also expected to make great strides competing in the 200 meters. Along with freshman, D'Ambour Lewis who currently has the season best time of 24.78, the two are already ECAC qualifiers. Alexis Booker and sophomore Heidi Paul are also expected to have very strong performances in the event.
In the mile, Erin Matyus and Chistina Nelson will all hope for strong performances. Matyus has a career-best mile time of 4:59.26, which is also the Terrapins' best on the season and qualified her for the ECAC Championships.
Junior Kristin Reed holds Maryland's best time of the season in the 3,000 meters. She will be joined by Lindsay Ritchings who looks to beat her season best time of 10:07.41.
At least year's indoor championships, the Terps finished in 12th place with 16 total points. This season they hope to improve on that result, after a strong start to the indoor season.
Men
For the first time since 1979, the University of Maryland claimed last year's ACC Championship in the 4 x 400 meter relay. The foursome of junior Jeremy Samuels, seniors Kyle Rauser and Anthony Walker and graduate Sean Lowe recorded a time of 3:15.00 in the event. With the absence of Lowe and the rotation of freshmen Chris Brown, Zach Ray, senior Josh Davis and sophomore Tommy Friscia have had strong performances at this season's meets. Placing first at the Wesley Brown Invitational, the 4x400 relay team set the momentum with their ECAC-qualifying time of 3:18.14.
For the Maryland jumpers, strong performances are expected out of Dwight Barbiasz and David Edwards-Brennan. A freshman, Barbiasz has placed first in the first three meets of the season, all of which are NCAA and IC4A-qualifying marks. Edwards-Brennan has already posted an IC4A-qualifying mark, with his season-best high jump of 6-8.25. With the same mark, the senior placed sixth at last year's ACC Indoor Championships.
In the long jump, Jason Allen will look to improve upon his season-best and IC4A-qualfying jump of 24-04.25. He will also look to improve upon his ninth-place finish at last season's ACC Indoor Championships.
Terrapin hurdlers and newcomers, Zach Ray and Legonn Haskins will look to make impressive marks in the 60-meter hurdles. In his freshman season, Ray holds the top four season best times of the Terps and has qualified for the ECAC Championships five times this season. He hopes to top his season best time of 8.15 in the event. Sophomore transfer-student, Legonn Haskins holds two ECAC-qualifying times in the event as well.
The Terrapin sprinters will be led by senior Anthony Walker and junior Jeremy Samuels, who have both qualified for the IC4A Championships in the 400 meters. Returners to the ACC Indoor Championships in the event, Walker and Samuels both hold season-best times of 48.69. Freshman Chris Brown will also look for a strong finish in the event.
The Terrapin men hope to improve upon their seventh-place finish at last year's championships.
The 2009 ACC Indoor Championships will be broadcast live on ACCSelect.com. Live stats will also be available on TheACC.com. Log on to UMTerps.com for recaps of Maryland finishers throughout the weekend.
