Deacs Shine at Early Bird Invite

Sunday, December 8

Winston-Salem, NC

Wake Forest University

JDL Early Bird College Invitational

12/8/2019 9:09:00 PM | Track and Field

Results

By: Grace Bolin, Wake Athletic Communications

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's and women's track and field teams opened the 2019 indoor season at the Early Bird Invite at the JDL Fasttrack.

"We had some nice performances for December," head coach John Hayes said. "For everyone but our distance runners, this was their opener for this school year. We had several athletes hit the ACC qualifying standard. That's great to get out of the way this early and allows us to be creative with their meet schedules. Tony (Jones) hit a school record in the high jump and it is obvious that he has way more in him."

The event was highlighted by men's high jumper Tony Jones who broke a 26-year Wake Forest record previously held by Matt Benson. Jones set the new mark at 2.10m placing second in the field. Ethan Roach also had a successful outing for the Deacs, posting a first-place finish in the men's 200m with a time of 22.35.

Evan Simmons and Kaleb Bryant both had top-10 finishes for the Deacons in the men's 500m as Simmons placed third with a mark of 1:08.11 and Bryant finished sixth at 1:09.04.

Sophomore Kenton Bachman won the men's mile, coming in at 4:22.96. Michael DiSalvo finished the event in eighth place with a time of 4:34.10. The Deacons picked up another first-place finish as Joaquin Martinez de Pinillos won the men's 3000m, crossing the finish line with a time of 8:26.29.

In the 4 x 400 relay, Wake Forest claimed third as Simmons, Bryant, Matthew Konigsberg and Roach earned a time of 3:27.71.

Connor Mathis placed second in the men's shot put with a mark of 14.76m, while Jason Wagner finished fifth in the event with a distance of 13.13m. Rounding out the men's field events was Andrew White who placed third in the weight throw with a 16.48m mark.

On the women's side, Cydney Delley and Grace Hofferber finished sixth and seventh, respectively in the 500m with times of 1:21.33 and 1:23.00. Sophia Lagana earned an 11^th place finish in the event.
In the 3000m, Caroline Garrett ran a 10:13.16, good for a second-place finish. Five Deacs finished in the top-7 of the 5000m, paced by Samantha Halvorsen with a time of 16:50.90.

The finals of the 60m hurdles saw three Deacs finish in the top-8. Anna Bush led Wake Forest with a time of 8.88 for a second-place finish. Brionne Pyles came in fourth with a mark of 9.03 and Kaitlyn Kirby rounded out the event finishing eighth at 9.33.

The Deacons finished third and fourth in the 4 x 400 relay as Delley, Hofferber, Lagana and Aleeya Hutchins crossed the line at 3:57.21, while Kirby, Meghan O'Malley, Pyles and Bush finished with a time of 4:04.84.

Elaina Roeder placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.50m. Robbie Grace placed third in the women's long jump, followed by Bush in fourth place. Rounding out the field events for Wake Forest, Chanel Dawson picked up a second-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 13.57.

Wake Forest will resume action Jan. 17-18 at the Virginia Tech Invitational.