Demon Deacons Set for ACC Indoor Championships

Thursday, February 21

Blacksburg, Va.

Wake Forest University

ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships

Photo by: Dawson Powers / Clemson Athletics

2/20/2019 10:04:00 AM | Track and Field

LIVE RESULTS WATCH HEAT SHEETS ACC Indoor Performance List

Wake Forest travels to Blacksburg, Va. for the 2019 ACC Championships held Thursday, Feb. 21-23

By: By: Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)

Meet Day \| ACC Indoor Championships
Date \| Time	February 21-23, 2019
Location	Blacksburg, Va. \| R ector Fieldhouse
Watch	ACC Network Extra
Stats	Live Results
Information	@WakeT rack \| Entries

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's and women's track and field teams are set to open the indoor postseason with the 2019 ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships held February 21-23 at Virginia Tech's Rector Fieldhouse. 32 Demon Deacons, including 15 men and 17 women, will compete in the three-day meet.

Brionne Pyles, first up for the Deacs, will participate in the pentathlon at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Anthony Jones enters the ACC Championships for the first time, entering the men's high jump on Friday at 12 p.m. to get day two started for Wake Forest. Jones looks to impress in the men's high jump, as the freshman currently ranks 13^th in the ACC. Janese Lynch, Chanel Dawson and Alva Hicks will kickoff day three for the Demon Deacons in the women's shot put, starting at noon.

Men and women's distance medley relays (DMR) finals will be held Thursday. Prelim races will take place Friday with most finals being held Saturday.

ACC Network Extra will live stream the action with former Olympic decathlon gold medalist Dan O'Brien serving as color analyst. He will be joined by veteran ESPN play-by-play announcer Shawn Kenney, distance analyst David Mitchell and trackside reporter Hanna Yates. Coverage begins Friday at 4:00 p.m. and Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Robert Heppenstall, a 3x indoor All-American selection (800m), seeks a conference title following his third-place finish in the event one year ago. Heppenstall currently ranks third in the ACC (15^th in the nation) with a season-best time of 1:48.33 in the 800m.

Also on the track, freshman Zach Facioni will compete in the men's 3000 and 5000m. Facioni has dazzled in his inaugural campaign with the Deacs. His indoor 3000m time of 8:08.98 at the Bob Pollock Invitational was good for third all-time and is the best finishing time since teammate Sebastian Fischbach (8:17.97) in 2016.

In the field for the men, Kane Aldrich (pole vault) seeks to win a conference championship in his freshman season en route to a bid for nationals in Birmingham, Ala. Aldrich sits in ninth in the ACC and has the fourth best mark among freshmen.

On the track for the women, Sam Halvorsen and Mimi Smith highlight a full slate of Demon Deacons chasing track conference championships. The pair will run in the 5000m on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Halvorsen, who finished 17th in the 3000m at 2018 ACC Indoors, set a new personal best in the 5000m (16:07.40) a the 2019 Iowa State Classic. That mark is good for second all-time for the women's indoor 5000m in program history. Smith gets another shot in th 5000m after finishing 10th in the event at ACC's one year ago.

Alexandria Florent gets her shot at a conference crown in the women's high jump. She ranks fifth in the ACC with a season-best mark of 1.71m at the Iowa State Classic. She took first at the Wake Forest Invitational, along with four other second-place finishes during the indoor regular season. Florent also placed second at the 2018 ACC Indoor Championships, earning All-ACC honors.

Alva Hicks has been on fire in the field for Wake Forest. The senior from Providence, RI has won four weight throw titles this season and one in the shot put. Hicks finished ninth in the weight throw at conference championships in 2018. Her mark of 19.89m ranks eighth in the ACC. Sophomore Janese Lynch will battle for a shot put title one week after winning the event at the JDL DMR Invitational in Winston-Salem.

Tesia Kempski will take the field for the pole vault event. The senior vaulter finished 11^th at the 2018 indoor conference championships with a mark of 3.95m. Kempski has won two titles this season, including victories at the JDL DMR Invitational and Wake Forest Invite.

Pending the outcome of this weekend, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held March 8-9 in Birmingham, Ala.