Wake Forest Athletics
Deacons Earn Strong Finishes to Begin ACC Championships
4/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
April 17, 2014
By Currie McFayden, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Several Demon Deacons logged strong finishes and personal-best marks on Thursday, the opening day of the 2014 ACC Outdoor Championships hosted by the University of North Carolina.
Simon Holden and Kyle Graves starred in the 1,500m prelims for Wake Forest as both advanced to Saturday's final after finishing fifth and sixth. Charlie Ionata also earned a top-10 finish for the Deacs in the hammer throw, taking sixth place to earn three points in the overall team competition.
Both Alyssa Thompson and Alexander Krall are in the top 10 of the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively, following the first day as well.
Friday's action will begin with the women's javelin throw at 10:30 a.m., with the men's events getting underway at 11 a.m. as the final half of the decathlon kicks off. The second day's events will conclude with the men's and women's 3,000m steeplechases, slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Following is a summary of all of the action for the Demon Deacons on Day 1 of the 2014 ACC Championships:
Men's 1,500m Run (Prelims)
Simon Holden and Kyle Graves advanced to Saturday's final by finishing fifth (3:46.91) and sixth (3:47.38) overall, respectively. Holden's time represents a new personal best of more than two seconds.
Alexander Rose and Tom Finneran also competed for Wake Forest, placing 22nd (3:51.53) and 25th (3:51.88) to round out the Demon Deacon quartet.
Women's 1,500m Run (Prelims)
Kathryn Lazarchick shattered her previous personal best in the event by more than three seconds, crossing the line in 4:29.35 to lead the Deacs with a 20th-place finish.
Kaitlyn Oliver followed closely in 25th with a time of 4:36.49, and Samantha Jones rounded out the top three Deacs in 28th after finishing in 4:38.92.
Freshman Ellie Abrahamson established a new personal-best time of 4:41.13 to finish 32nd for Wake Forest.
Men's 10,000m Run
The duo of Garret Drogosch and Connor Crowley represented the Demon Deacons in the long-distance event. Drogosch led the way with a time of 30:17.97 to finish 17th overall, while Crowley followed just behind, finishing 22nd in 30:45.89. Crowley's time set a new personal best by over a minute.
Men's 400m Hurdles (Prelims)
Malcolm Nunley turned in a solid showing in his final ACC Championships appearance, finishing sixth in his heat and 21st overall with a time of 55.87. The top eight times in the preliminary heats advanced to Saturday's final event.
Women's 400m Hurdles (Prelims)
Allison Johnson competed for Wake Forest in the preliminary heats, placing fifth in the second heat and 14th overall after crossing the finish line in 1:02.51. Like the men, the top eight in the event advanced to Saturday's final.
Men's Decathlon
Sophomore Alexander Krall smashed his outdoor personal bests across the board in each of Thursday's five decathlon events en route to landing in 10th place with 3,333 points after the opening day.
Krall took eighth in the 100m dash (11.38), 13th in the long jump (19-11.5/6.08m), fifth in the shot put (38-0.75/11.60m), 10th in the high jump (5-10.75/1.80m) and eighth in the 400m dash (51.60) as the only representative for Wake Forest in the grueling 10-event gauntlet.
Women's Heptathlon
Freshman Alyssa Thompson leads the way for the Demon Deacons following the first day of action, which included the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and the 200m dash. Thompson took fifth in the 100m hurdles with a new personal best (14.43), eighth in the high jump (5-3.25/1.61m), eighth in the shot put with another personal record (34.3.5/10.45m) and finished the day with her third personal-best mark of 24.73 to place second in the 200m dash. The freshman sits fourth overall with 3,136 points after the opening day.
Senior Erika Martin established new personal bests in two of the four events, finishing sixth in the shot put after a toss of 35-11.5 (10.96m) and fifth in the 200m dash, crossing the line in 25.61. In the other events, Martin was sixth in the 100m hurdles (14.49) and 10th in the high jump (5-2.25/1.58m); she sits in eighth place overall with 3,046 points following Thursday's action.
Freshman Amy Collins also notched a pair of personal-best marks on Thursday after placing fifth in the high jump (5-5.75/1.67m) and 12th in the shot put (31-5.75 (9.59m). In the track events, Collins finished 13th in the 100m hurdles in 15.95 and 11th in the 200m dash in 26.99. She is 13th overall with 2,754 points heading into Friday's events.
Men's Long Jump
Senior Michael Mastanduno fell just short of his personal-best mark in the event, jumping a distance of 21-11.5 (6.69m) to place 16th overall.
Women's Long Jump
Alyssa Thompson, competing separately from her heptathlon events, grabbed an eighth-place finish with a leap of 19-4.25 (5.90m).
Men's Hammer Throw
Charlie Ionata, competing in the conference championships for the first time, logged a toss of 183-6 (55.93m) to place sixth overall. He was joined in the top 10 by Teddy Mottola, who threw a distance of 174-8 (53.25m) to take ninth place. Nate Wooten (11th) and Kyle Johnson (12th) had throws of 168-3 (51.28m) and 166-11 (50.88m), respectively, and K.C. Barrett rounded out the quintet of Deacs in 17th place and a toss of 157-3 (47.94m).
Women's Hammer Throw
The lone competitor for the Demon Deacons in the event, freshman Casidy Callahan placed 12th overall with an excellent mark of 160-0 (48.76m).
Players Mentioned
