April 16, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-- In day one of competition at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Chapel Hill on Friday, Wake Forest's Annie Bersagel took home the women's 10,000m title while Cassy Richards finished first in the women's long jump event. Five more Demon Deacon women and two men also qualified for their event's finals which will be held Saturday in the final day of competition at UNC's Fetzer Field.

After the first day, the North Carolina women lead all teams with 81.5 points while the Florida State men have a grasp on first place with 52 points. The Wake Forest women find themselves in sixth place and the men in eighth after Friday's competition.

Bersagel's time of 33:59.14 in the 10,000m was more than eight seconds faster than the nearest finisher while Richards outjumped her 16 opponents in the long jump with a mark of 20-06 which is a new personal record.

Several other Deacon women performed well on Friday, including the foursome of Nikeya Green, Shauna Danos, Adralyn Wendel and Hanna Bremler who all qualified for Saturday's 800m finals with top-eight finishes in Friday's preliminaries. Green was the top finisher with a time of 2:09.16 while Danos came in fifth, Wendel sixth and Bremler eighth.

Wake's Anna Sherman also turned in a second-place finish in the 1,500m preliminaries and qualified for Saturday's finals.

On the men's side, Brad Wharton's time of 3:49.48 in the 1,500m run was the best out of 27 competitors as the Deacon sophomore heads into Saturday's finals in the number one slot.

Michael Loyd's season-best time of 13.97 in the 110m hurdles was the best in his heat and good enough for second place overall in Friday's preliminaries.

Other top-ten finishes by Wake Forest athletes on Friday included Selina Sekulic and Catherine Fortin-Major in the 3,000m Steeplechase, Lindsay Neuberger in the discus throw, Willie Idlette in the 100m dash, Kevin Marion in the 200m dash, Eric Seely in the 400m, Brandon Bartholomew in the 10,000m, and Alan Susi and Michael Hauck in the javelin throw.

Day two of the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place Saturday at the University of North Carolina's Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill.

Complete results from the ACC Championships can be found at www.theacc.com.