Wake Forest Opens Play at ACC Championships

2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field

Feb. 27, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Wake Forest track and field team will participate in the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championships this weekend at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. Selected events will be featured on ACCSelect.com.

Men's Track
2008 marks the 49th annual Men's Indoor Championships and the 46th the Demon Deacons have participated in the event. Two athletes hold meet records at the event, the first was garnered in 1999 by Nolan Swanson, who posted a top time of 8:03.50 in the 3000m run. Last season, Brent LaRue set a new record in the heptathlon with 5617 points.

Kevin Marion is an ACC top performer in the 60m and 200m dash, but holds his highest conference finish in the long jump. At the Akron Open on February 2, Marion registered a 24-01.50 jump, good for fourth place in ACC standings. Sophomore Jonathan Reid holds the eighth best conference finish in the 400m dash, while John Compton is top finisher in the 5k and Taylor Wildman ranks ninth with an 8.29 finish in the 55m hurdles.

Last season, the Demon Deacons placed eighth overall, while Florida State took home its fifth consecutive title.

Women's Track
2008 is the 22nd annual Women's Indoor Championship and Wake Forest's 21st year of participation. In 2007, Michelle Sikes took home an individual title in the 5000m run with a time of 15:57.44. The Demon Deacons finished 10th overall at the championships, held in Clemson, S.C.

Wake Forest currently holds three top finishers in the 5000m run. Caitlin Chrisman leads the conference with a 16:44.98 mark set at the Tyson Invitational on February 15 and freshmen Anna Nosenko and Marley Burns currently rank third and sixth, respectively.

Melissa Council has a fifth place time in the 400m run, while Nicole Schappert ranks sixth in the 800m event. Schappert also ranks in the conference top ten in the mile and 3000m run, where she holds an NCAA provisional time of 9:31.86.

For more information on the 2008 ACC Indoor Championships, including a complete schedule of events, please visit the tournament site at TheACC.com.