@CanesTrack Opens at ACC Outdoor Championships
ATLANTA – The University of Miami track and field program began competition at the 2017 ACC Outdoor Championships Friday.
The Hurricane women got on the scoreboard on the opening day of the conference meet thanks to an impressive run by Gabrielle Hesslau. The senior distance runner scored the first point for the Canes, finishing eighth in the women’s 10,000m with a time of 36:04.94
“I am proud of Gabby’s performance today,” Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem said. “It is her last ACC meet and she stepped up and scored a point for us. Today and tomorrow are about advancing to put us in position to succeed on Sunday, but Gabby got us started with a point tonight.”
Amy Taintor got off to a strong start in the women’s heptathlon, finishing the first day in fourth place with 3,146 points. Taintor opened the day with a personal-best in the heptathlon 100m hurdles, winning section 2 and finishing fourth overall with a time of 14.47 seconds. The junior then posted a mark of 1.59m in the high jump and finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 11.41m. Taintor closed the day with a second place finish in the 200m, posting a personal-best time of 25.00 seconds.
The Canes had two women advance to the women’s 200m final after Shakima Wimbley and Brittny Ellis each won their respective heats to earn automatic qualifier spots. Wimbley won Heat 4 with a time of 22.92 seconds that was fastest in preliminaries, while Ellis’ personal-best time of 23.31 seconds ranked fourth in the prelims and earned her a victory in Heat 5.
Anna Runia advanced to the women’s 400m hurdles final after a strong performance in the preliminaries. The sophomore won Heat 1 with a personal-best time of 57.66 seconds that made her the top qualifier in the event.
Anne den Otter ran the third-fastest women’s 1500m in school history, finishing 17th in the preliminaries with a time of 4:30.06.
Competition begins Saturday at 11 a.m., with the men’s decathlon 110m hurdles. Field events begin at 3 p.m., with the men’s shot put and women’s long jump, while the action on the track opens at 5:45 p.m., with the women’s 100m hurdles preliminaries.
Saturday’s live coverage on ACC Network Extra will air from 5:30 until 9:30 p.m., followed by Sunday’s finals from 5 until the meet’s conclusion.
Following the ACC Outdoor Championships, qualifying Hurricanes will travel to compete at the NCAA East Preliminary in Lexington, Ky., on May 25-27. To view the complete Miami track and field schedule for the 2017 season, click here.
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.
