Tech men in second place while the women are third after the first day
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Virginia Tech\'s track & field athletes Spyridon Jullien and Jacobus Smit won ACC individual titles on the first day of the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which are being held at the Mike Long Track on the campus of Florida State this weekend. Other Hokies set personal and school records scoring points for Tech.Tech\'s fourth-year head coach said, \"Overall it was a good day. We had two ACC individual champions and our women\'s heptathlon athletes are in a great position to conclude the event tomorrow. Kristen and Tamara, our women\'s hammer throwers took second and third place but the better news is that they set personal records and a school record. I feel the athletes today had good performances for a conference championship that is earlier in the season than we are used to.\"
Jullien (Jr., Athens, Greece) won the ACC men\'s hammer throw title with a mark of 233\'7\" (71.21m). His throw broke the ACC\'s four-year meet record by more than 25 feet and set Florida State\'s Mike Long Track record. Jullien, a two-time All-American and two-time BIG EAST champion specifically in the hammer throw, still remains the No. 1 hammer throw athlete in the NCAA to date.
Smit (Jr., Pretoria, South Africa), currently the No. 2 men\'s javelin thrower in the nation, became the ACC champion in the event with a mark of 236\'5\" (72.06m), which was 23 feet farther than the second place finisher. Smit, a 2004 all-region selection and a two-time NCAA qualifier in the event, won his first conference championship.
Kristen Callan (So., Monroe, N.Y.) finished in second place out of 17 competitors in the women\'s hammer throw with a mark of 203\'10\" (62.13m), which was about three inches short from the winning mark. Callan\'s throw today broke her own school record by more than six feet and moved her up to the ninth-ranked hammer throw athlete in the nation.
Tamara Burns (Jr., Elm Creek, Neb.) earned six team points for the Hokie women for her third place finish in the hammer. Burns, an NCAA regional qualifier in the event, threw a personal best mark of 195\'6\" (59.59m). Her throw today moved her up to seventh in the NCAA east region performance list and into the top-20 in the nation.
After four events and the first day of the heptathlon, Saskia Triesscheijn (Jr., Berlin, Germany) is fourth out of the 14 competitor-field with 3,103 points. Hokie teammate Gunild Kreb (Jr., Winterbach, Germany) is right behind Triesscheijn in fifth place with 3,057 points.
The championships continue tomorrow, Friday, at 10 a.m. with the men\'s discus throw. The running events trials are from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The three remaining events of the heptathlon (long jump, triple jump and 800 meters) start at 3:30 p.m. At 6:20 p.m., the 3,000-meter steeplechase ends the second day of the championships.
The women\'s discus throw at 10 a.m. opens up Saturday\'s events. The relays, sprint and distance finals go from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The championships conclude with an awards presentation at 4:45 p.m.
For more information concerning the championships including live scoring, schedule and records visit http://seminoles.collegesports.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/05-acc-out-champs.html/. Live scoring is available at http://www.flashresults.com/2005_Meets/outdoor/acc/.