Atherley Wins Heptathlon for Second ACC Gold
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Day 2 of the 2018 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships was full of gold for junior Michelle Atherley.
Atherley earned her second ACC title of the weekend, winning the women’s heptathlon with a score of 5,793 points and setting the tone for four medals earned by Hurricanes on Friday at Cobb Stadium.
“Michelle has been a warrior for us all weekend,” Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem said. “I hope that she kind of rubs off on everybody tomorrow. She’s been such a team player and really competed at an extremely high level this weekend. She’s all about ‘what do I need to do to help the team’ and you wish you had every athlete like that.”
The junior started the final day of the heptathlon with a win in the long jump, posting a season-best mark of 5.88m. Atherley posted a mark of 29.45m before closing out the day with a time of 2:15.83 to finish second in the 800m and secure her second individual ACC title of this year’s outdoor championships.
The path to the heptathlon title began on Thursday, as Atherley won the women’s heptathlon 100m hurdles with a personal-best time of 13.05 seconds that is fifth in UM history. The sophomore finished second in the heptathlon high jump with a mark of 1.67m, was second in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 12.75m and closed out the day with a win in the 200m, posting a personal-best time of 23.93 seconds.
Andreas Christodoulou took home a silver medal in the men’s decathlon with a score of 7,271 points. Christodoulou started Friday’s competition strong, winning the men’s decathlon 110m hurdles with a time of 14.84 seconds and posting a mark of 37.10m in the discus. A mark of 4.40m in the pole vault and a victory in the javelin with a mark of 58.16m put Christodoulou in the lead entering the final event of the decathlon, the 1500m. Christodoulou finished the decathlon 1500m in third place with a time of 4:53.58, scoring 597 points to finish two behind the ACC champion, Louisville’s Eric Fox.
“He competed well all weekend and he’s getting back on track,” Deem said. “He was kind of in a slump a little bit, but he’s getting back. I wish he could have scored a little bit better because I think he would have been definitely in for NCAAs, but right now he is going to sit on the bubble. Overall, it was a very solid performance for him the last two days.”
Christodoulou opened the men’s decathlon with a time of 11.35 seconds in the 100m. The junior won the men’s decathlon long jump with a mark of 7.19m and posted a season-best of 12.19m in the shot put. Christodoulou finished fourth in the decathlon high jump with a personal-best mark of 1.94m and wrapped up the day with a time of 51.47 seconds to finish third in the 400m.
Debbie Ajagbe led a duo of women that scored for the Canes in the women’s shot put. The freshman’s personal-best mark of 16.22m earned her a bronze medal and moved her into third place on UM’s all-time list, while junior Zakiya Rashid added a point with a mark of 14.91m that placed her eighth.
“Coach [Cory] Young does a great job with our throwers and they’re almost always ready to throw their best at the right time and you could see that with Debbie and then Z scoring a point with a throw right at her personal-best,” Deem said. “It was a huge personal-best for Debbie.”
Gian Piero Ragonesi was the third Hurricane to medal on Friday, taking home a bronze in the men’s shot put with a mark of 18.50m.
“Gian has been so consistent all year long and I am happy for him to do this in his last ACC Championships as a Hurricane to go out and throw well. I am looking forward to the discus tomorrow because the discus is huge for us.”
Miami also had four student-athletes shine on the track and earn spots in Saturday’s finals, including three on the women’s side.
Symone Mason ran the second-fastest preliminary time in the women’s 400m, finishing second in Heat 1 with a time of 52.89 seconds to advance to the finals.
“I am really proud of Symone,” Deem said. “To come out and run her first 400 of the year and handled it with a lot of poise I thought she ran really well andi am excited to watch her run again tomorrow.”
The Canes had two women punch their tickets to the 100m hurdles final, as Tiara McMinn won Heat 1 of the 100m hurdles preliminaries with a time of 13.26 seconds and Atherley won Heat 3 with a time of 13.30 seconds.
Myles Valentine also advanced to the final in the men’s 100m, winning Heat 3 with a time of 10.44 seconds that was fourth-best among the 24 preliminary competitors.
“Like I said yesterday, you always want more,” Deem said. “I thought we left a little on the table with Isaiah [Taylor] and Alfreda [Steele] and KK [Kristina Knott] in the 100 meters. That wasn’t one of our better events of the weekend so far, but I am really pleased with Myles and our hurdlers did what they needed to come through.”
Through two days of competition, the Hurricane women are in third place with 38 points and Miami’s men are seventh with 23 points. Eight of 21 events have been scored ahead of Saturday’s final day of action.
Championship Saturday is set to begin at noon with the men’s javelin, while the running finals will start at 5 p.m. with the women’s 4x100m.
Fans can watch the ACC Outdoor Championships on ACC Network Extra beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday by clicking HERE. Fans can also follow the meet via live results by clicking HERE.
Following this weekend’s action, qualifying Hurricanes will prepare to compete at the NCAA East Preliminary in Tampa, Fla., on May 24-26. To view the complete Miami Track and Field schedule for the 2018 season, click here.
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