ATLANTA, Ga.- After battling 30-degree weather last weekend at the Morehouse Relays, the Clayton College & State University men's and women's track teams were able to compete in much better conditions Saturday afternoon at the Emory Classic and continued to improve upon their times in the school's first season as official varsity intercollegiate programs.
More than 30 schools were represented at the meet, including three other Peach Belt Athletic Conference teams - Kennesaw State, Annstrong Atlantic State, and UNC Pembroke.
"We turned in some solid times and penfonnances and improved upon last week, but the field was much stronger than the one we faced at Morehouse," said Clayton State head coach
Mike Mead. "The field included four or five Division I teams and some of the
top track and field teams in Division II and Ill."
Mary Schwerdt turned it up a bit tltis weekend as she finished l0th in the 1,500-meter run (4:59.94) and 13th in the 800- meter (2:25.74).
Aidita Gibson, who won last week's 1,500-meter race, placed 22nd despite knocking nearly seven seconds off of her
time (5:12.03). Gibson also finished 14th in the 3,000 (11:21.31) and 16th in tlte 400-meter dash (1:03.35).
Jan Trainor came in 26th in the 400m and
Jessica LeRoy placed 27th in the 3,000 to round out tlte women's finishes
"Mary turned in the best effort on tlte women's side," said Mead. "She bounced back from last week and ran solidly in both the 1500 and 800."
On tlte men's side,
Tye Walker (4:15.35) and Damty Brock (4:15.95) turned in nearly identical times even though they ran in two different heats to place 24th and 25th in the 1,500-meter, respectively. Brock also finished 22nd in the 5,000 with a time of
16:45.23, whie
Steven Parrish was 33rd in the 800m (2:07.39).
Travis Robertson competed in tlte 3,000-meter steeplechase for the first time and finished 26th. The Lakers were without the services of one of their top runners,
Gary Ginn, who was involved in a car accident last weekend and was forced to pull out of the meet due to side effects from the accident.
"Tye and Drumy ran solid for the men," said Mead. "Tye was only three seconds off his best time from last season in the 1500 while Danny ran a personal-best in the race."
The Lakers and Lady Lakers travel to Troy, Ala., next Saturday to compete in the Troy State Invitational.
"Our folks are begitming to learn to be competitive on the track, which is different than cross country," explained Mead. "They're becoming more aggressive and learning to race."
