Sports > April 3, 2008

By Danny Mullins | Staff writer

Despite the rainy conditions that ended up cancelling some of the events at the Yellow Jacket Invitational at Georgia Tech March 29 as well as the Western Carolina Invitational March 30, some members of the track team were still able to place at the top of several events.

The most significant performance for women’s track and field team in Atlanta came from senior Merry Placer who placed fifth in the 1500m run with a time of 4:40.45.

This was a career-best while attending Wake Forest beating her previous best in the 1500m which came at the 2007 ACC Championship, by over half a second.

Some of the other notable performers for the Lady Deacons came from sophomore Curry who finished seventh in the 1500m run and freshmen Marley Burns who finished eighth in the same event at the Yellow Jacket Invitation.

The women’s team had their best overall performance in the 1500m run with three girls finishing in the top 10.

At the Western Carolina the women were led by senior Molly Kennedy who had top 10 finishes in four of her events, including first place in the 100m hurdles, triple jump and high jump.

Other strong performers included junior Carly Mauch who placed first in the javelin throw with a mark of 132-09.

Senior Jill Ahrens won the poll vaulting competition by six inches.

As for the men’s track team, the standout performer had to come from sophomore Jonathan Reid.

In the 400m dash at the Yellow Jacket Invitational, he recorded a time of 47.22 seconds which was good for first place.

He missed qualifying for the regional competition by a mere .02 seconds and with the time of 47.22, ran the sixth fastest time for the 400m in school history.

Sophomores Nicholas Lepley and Patrick Russell turned in impressive performances.

Lepley placed sixth in the 800m dash with a time of 1:55.41.

Russell finished in 10th in the 1500m run with a time of 3:55.93 which was the best time of the year at that distance for Wake Forest.

At the Western Carolina, sophomore Thomas Sensing won both the shot put and the discus throw.

He set his own personal best with his mark of 51-11.25 in the shot put.

Several others placed well at the Western Carolina Invitational including junior Oderah Nwazee who placed tied for third in the long jump with a mark of 20-10.75 and freshman Nick Deuschle who finished fifth in the 1500m dash 4:17.80.

The Deacons return to action April 4 when they participate in the Duke Invitational.

April 5 qualifying members of the team head to the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif, while others will compete in the Clemson Invitational