Lea Johnson Wins Weight Throw at ACCs
CLEMSON, S.C. – Lea Johnson is the latest ACC champion from the University of Miami track and field program.
Johnson won the women’s weight throw with a personal-best mark of 20.99m. Her throw ranks second in school history and scored 10 points for the Hurricanes. Johnson is the second Hurricane to win the ACC Indoor Championship in women’s weight throw, joining 2007 champion Khadija Talley.
“I don’t know that I was expecting to go as far as I did,” Johnson said. “I went into the finals in fourth place, but everything clicked and I moved into first.”
Joining Johnson on the podium was Precious Ogunleye, who placed third with a personal-best throw of 20.72m. Ogunleye’s mark ranks fourth in Miami history and added six points to the women’s team score.
“I thought we did a great job today in the field events, led by Lea,” Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem said. “That was a huge personal-best and NCAA qualifying mark in the weight throw. To get those 16 points was huge for us today.”
Dakota Dailey-Harris got Miami’s women off to a good start Friday, scoring three points in the women’s high jump. The sophomore placed sixth in the women’s high jump, clearing a season-best 1.77m.
“It means everything to score,” Dailey-Harris said. “We’ve got a chance to finish Top 5 in the ACC, so it means everything to get points for my team.”
Shortly after Dailey-Harris scored Miami’s first points of the day, Johnson and Ogunleye wrapped up their podium performances in the weight throw.
“I am very proud of our field events in general,” Deem said. “We picked up some points in the high jump and the men’s long jump. We did a very good job doing what we needed to do to get ready for tomorrow.”
Beyond Miami’s 19 points on the women’s side, they had multiple student-athletes qualify for the finals in their respective events.
Shakima Wimbley advanced to a pair of finals after a stellar showing on Friday. The freshman earned the top seed in the women’s 200m final after winning Heat 8 of the women’s 200m with a time of 23.96 seconds.
She also earned a spot in the women’s 400m final after winning Heat 6 with time of 54.17 seconds. Wimbley, who will be seeded third in Saturday’s final scheduled for 12:40 p.m. ET., will look to stay atop the leaderboard in the 200m final at 1:45 p.m. ET.
Two other Canes who shined, but did not advance to Saturday’s 400m final are Kelsey Balkwill and Anthonia Moore. Balkwill won Heat 8 with a time of 55.48 seconds, while Moore ran a personal-best 55.90 seconds. Balkwill (10th), Moore (12th) and Shannon Wright (56.34, 14th) all finished among the top 15.
Alyssa McClure joins Wimbley in qualifying for a final. The senior won Heat 4 of the women’s 60m dash with a season-best time of 7.48 seconds. McClure will be seeded second in tomorrow’s final, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
Alaine Tate punched her ticket to Saturday’s women’s 800m final when she won Heat 1 on Friday afternoon with a time of 2:09.03. She will be the sixth seed when she hits the track at 1:25 p.m. ET on Saturday.
“We advanced everybody we expected,” Deem said. “The one disappointment is we didn’t get the people on the bubble that could have qualified. I was hoping to squeeze a couple more in. Overall, I think we are in a good position. We qualified a lot of people for tomorrow.”
On the men’s side, Isaiah Simmons scored the first point for Miami’s men, placing eighth in the weight throw with a mark of 17.79m. Gian Ragonesi threw a personal-best 16.75m, but did not advance to the finals.
In the long jump, the Miami men picked up four points with Timothy Richardson’s fifth-place finish.
“It’s a blessing,” Richardson said of scoring for his team. “A week and a half ago I was hurt, so to come out here and have an indoor personal-best is amazing.”
Richardson’s mark of 7.39m is an indoor-best and a season-best and ranks third in University of Miami history.
“I know there are NFL football players ahead of me, but I am slowly working up the rankings,” Richardson said. “Hopefully in outdoors I keep improving. The goal is nationals. I’m coming for it.”
Artie Burns and Christian Cook qualified for Saturday’s 60m hurdles final. Burns won Heat 1 with a time of 7.75 seconds and is seeded first, while Cook placed second in Heat 2 with a time of 7.82 that ties his personal-best.
Phillip Dorsett also qualified for a final, earning the eighth seed in Saturday’s men’s 60m dash final. Dorsett, who finished third in Heat 1 with a season-best time of 6.85 seconds, will hit the track Saturday at 1:15 p.m. ET.
Heading into Saturday, Miami’s women are in fourth place with 20 points, while the men are tied for 10th place with five points.
The final day of action begins at 11 a.m. Saturday with the women’s shot put and the men’s and women’s pole vault. The running events are scheduled to begin at noon with the women’s 60m hurdles final. The 2014 ACC Indoor Championships will conclude following the running of the women’s and men’s 4x400m relays, tentatively scheduled for 3:15 p.m. and 3:45 p.m., respectively.
The 2014 ACC Indoor Championships are held at the Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex on the Clemson University campus. Thefacility contains a 200m Mondo track with an eight lane (44″) straightaway and a six-lane oval with a 73-foot radius. In the infield, the facility features one high jump apron, two pole vault runways and two long and triple jump runways. A permanent throwing cage is located outside the track for the weight throw and shot put.
The 2014 ACC Indoor Championships will be broadcast live on March 1, beginning at noon. Links to the live stream, as well as live results and other championship information are available on the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships Site.
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