Ready For ACC Outdoor Championships
4/14/2010 8:00:00 AM | Track & Field
April 14, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland track and field team will travel to the Rock Norman Track at Clemson University to compete in the 2010 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Championships, set to begin on Thursday and run through Saturday.
"We are prepared to put our best foot forward this weekend," said head coach Andrew Valmon. "The team has worked hard and is ready to compete. We are looking for everyone to put forth their best individual effort in order to contribute to the team as a whole."
The Terrapins are coming off a very strong first half of the season and look to continue their progress this weekend. All-America multi-athlete Kiani Profit leads a deep women's squad, while a group of experienced seniors head the men's program.
Women:
Star junior Kiani Profit will represent the Terrapins in multiple events this weekend. Profit, of Pasadena, Calif., set a school record in the pentathlon at the ACC Indoor Championships this February. Profit finished with 4,242 points in the five-event competition, finishing only behind Clemson's Liane Weber, who will compete on her home track this weekend. Profit will also look to score points for the Terps in the open section of the 400 on Friday and will likely anchor the women's 4x400-meter relay team on Saturday.
Throwing events will be a key factor for the Terrapins this weekend. Junior Kristen Batts owns the second-best discus mark in the conference this season. Sophomore Jessie Echard posted one of the conference's top marks in the hammer throw this season and is joined by impressive newcomer Moriah Young in the hammer throw and shot put.
Distance events could prove vital to the team's success this weekend. Senior Christina Nelson looks to improve her time in the 1,500-meter run while Ashlyn Sinclair aims to place in the steeplechase. Maryland was the only school in the ACC to compete in the 10,000-meter run this season, making Angeli Sivaraman, Andrea Rothschild and Halsey Sinclair an experienced and confident trio. All three student-athletes hold top-10 marks in Maryland history in the 10K.
Perhaps Maryland's most impressive performance of the season came in the 4x400-meter relay at the Colonial Relays. Kiani Profit teamed up with Tolulope Olugbemi, Melony McKay and DeAnna Brown to run the sixth-fastest time in school history. The dynamic foursome may be relied on to provide some much needed scoring in the final event of the championships.
Men:
The men's program will look to improve on last year's tenth place finish at the conference championships. Seniors Tommy Friscia, Greg Kelsey and Jeremy Samuels are expected to lead a young squad this weekend.
Friscia posted a blazing 1:50.50 in the 800 last weekend at the Mason Spring Invitational, the second-fastest time in the ACC this season and the best of his career. Junior Greg Jubb hopes to improve his season-best mark of 1:51.92 in the same event.
Kelsey holds the conference's third-best mark of the season in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, recording a 9:00.12 at the Colonial Relays and earning second place behind University of Virginia standout Steve Finley. Kelsey, Finley and Ryan McDermott of Duke should produce an exciting race on Friday afternoon.
Samuels has yet to run in the open section of the 400 this season, but he could be among the top finishers this weekend if he can duplicate his personal-best time of 47.44 seconds, which he ran at last year's Pepsi Florida Relays. In each of his four years at Maryland, the senior has been a mainstay on the 4x400 relay. Samuels and Friscia will likely team with freshmen John Davenport and Shawn David to compete against the conference's best on Saturday night.
Junior Alex Lundy's time of 14:07.48 in the 5,000 sits at No. 4 on the conference leader boards and No. 18 on the NCAA-East Region list. Lundy will likely compete in the 5,000 and 10,000 this weekend. The 10,000 is on Thursday night, which gives Lundy a day of rest before the 5,000 on Saturday.
The men's program has high hopes for Legonn Haskins and Zach Ray in the hurdles. Both student-athletes hit IC4A-qualifying marks in the 110-meter hurdles and could finish among the top eight on Saturday. At last year's outdoor championships, Ray finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles as a freshman.
This weekend's conference championships will be the first at Clemson since 1999. Florida State won last year's women's title and split the men's title with Virginia. Competition will begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday and Friday, and at noon on Saturday. Live results will be available all weekend at www.theacc.com/championships/10-otf-championship.html.
NCAA Qualification:
The following athletes are currently in position to qualify for the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the East Region. Top 48 marks in each region qualify:
11. Greg Kelsey - 3,000-steeplechase; 18. Alex Lundy - 5,000-meter run; 18. Kiani Profit - 400-meter hurdles; 21. Maryland - Women's 4x400-meter relay; 25. Kristen Batts - Discus Throw; 26. Tommy Friscia - 800-meter run; 34. Kiani Profit - 100-meter hurdles; 35. Angeli Sivaraman - 10,000-meter run; 41. Andrea Rothschild - 10,000-meter run; 42. Ashlyn Sinclair - 3,000-meter steeplechase; 44. Halsey Sinclair - 10,000-meter run
