Jan. 20, 2001

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Wake Forest University men's and women's track and field teams competed Friday and Saturday in the 2001 Kroger Indoor Invitational at Virginia Tech. Both teams took skeleton crews to the meet, hoping to gain some valuable experience at the site of the ACC Indoor Championships next month.

Ryan Hamilton raced to some good early season times in the 200-Meter Dash (22.81) and the 400-Meter Dash (49.13). Todd Hertling represented the Deacs in the Mile Run and finished 22nd out of 35 with a time of 4:29.91. T.J. Thompson tied for 10th out of 25 in the High Jump, clearing 6'6" and Scott Holmes cleared 15'1" in the Pole Vault, good for eighth place. The men did well in the throws also, as Tom Tymann reached 46'4" in the Shot Put and Cliff Neal tossed the Weight Throw 50'10", good for 15th place out of 25.

Carol Merritt shattered a ten-year old school record in the 200-Meter Dash by more than a second, running a 25.03, just missing the NCAA qualifying time. The Deacs performed well in the 800-Meter Run. Jill Synder led the way running a 2:11 for sixth place in the 55-person race. Summer Shaw finished 11th with a 2:14.59 and Nikeya Green came in 19th with a 2:18.07. Wake Forest did good in the relays also, placing third in the 4x800 Meter Relay with a time of 9:16.37 and taking fourth in the Distance Medley Relay with a 11:51.29. Elizabeth cleared ten feet in the Pole Vault and Sandra Jenkins took seventh place in the Shot Put, tossing a 43'3 ¹".

The Wake Forest women's team will return to action Jan. 27 at the Penn State Invitational in State College, Pa., before meeting up with the men's squad again at the Meyo Invitational, Feb. 2-3 in South Bend, Ind., where the guys will compete next.