@MiamiTrack Shines on Day 2 at ACCs
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The University of Miami track and field program had another productive day at the 2015 ACC Outdoor Championships.
The Hurricanes combined to score nine points on Friday, five by the women and four by the men. Miami also had six student-athletes earn spots in Saturday’s finals, rounding out a productive day on the track and in the field.
Amy Taintor finished seventh in the women’s heptathlon with a personal-best score of 4,997 points, third-best in UM history. The freshman opened the final day of the heptathlon placing fifth in the long jump with a mark of 5.53m and closed out the heptathlon with a second place finish in the 800m, posting a season-best time of 2:16.12. Taintor added two points to the Hurricane women’s team score.
The women’s throwers picked up more points for the Canes as Precious Ogunleye and Tiffany Okieme combined for three points in the women’s shot put. Ogunleye placed seventh with a personal-best throw of 15.25m, while Okieme finished eighth with a mark of 15.11m.
On the men’s side, Miami also had two throwers score in the shot put. Gian Piero Ragonesi placed seventh with a mark of 17.56m, while Daniel Polinski finished eighth with a personal-best throw of 17.56m that ranks fourth in UM history. The duo combined for three points towards the Men’s team total.
Bailey Vitatoe added a point for Miami’s men, placing eighth in the men’s high jump with a mark of 2.02m to round out the scoring for the Hurricanes on Friday.
Jamika Glades and Kayann Richards both advanced to the women’s 100m final. Glades finished second in Heat 3 with a time of 13.66 seconds and Richards placed third in Heat 3 with a time of 13.70 seconds, earning at-large qualifying spots for the final.
Artie Burns won Heat 2 of the 110m preliminaries with a time of 13.74 seconds, earning an automatic qualifying spot in Saturday’s final and moving into third place in UM history. Christian Cook placed second in Heat 1 of the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.05 seconds, earning an at-large spot in Saturday’s final.
Shakima Wimbley won Heat 2 of the 400m prelims with a time of 52.09 seconds, earning an automatic spot in tomorrow’s final. Taneisha Cordell won Heat 5 of the 800m preliminaries with a time of 2:06.31, earning a spot in Saturday’s final.
Henri Delauze ran a season-best in the men’s 400m, posting a time of 46.93 seconds, but did not advance to the final.
Josh Johnson ran a personal-best time of 10.69 seconds in the men’s 100m dash, but did not advance to the final.
Due to inclement weather, the women’s pole vault was postponed on Friday night. Alysha Newman and the rest of the vaulters will compete Saturday at 11 a.m.
Through seven events, the women’s team is in fifth place with 24 points and the men’s team is in 12th place with nine points.
Saturday is all about the finals with competition set to begin at 11 a.m. with the men’s javelin. The running events are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. with the women’s 4x100m final and will conclude at 8:40 p.m. with the men’s 4x400m final.
ESPN3 coverage will be streamed lived on theACC.com from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, with Tom Block handling play-by-play and former Olympic gold medalist and decathlon world record holder Dan O’Brien serving as analyst.
Following this weekend’s trip to Tallahassee, the Hurricanes will focus on preparing for the NCAA East Preliminary and the NCAA Championships to close out a stellar 2015 outdoor season.
For all the latest information on the Miami Hurricanes, follow the official Twitter feed, @MiamiHurricanes, or “Like Us” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes. Follow @MiamiTrack on Twitter for specific news on UM track and field and cross country. The program is also on Instagram.
