Pitt
ACC Outdoor Championships
Recapping Day One of ACC Outdoor Championship Meet
5/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Highlighted by the Panthers excelling in the 400 meter hurdles and Andrew Wells posting a school record in the hammer throw, the University of Pittsburgh men's and women's track and field teams concluded day one of action at the 2015 ACC Outdoor Championship Meet.
"We had some pretty good performances today," head coach Alonzo Webb said. "This is a premier conference, and although we had good performances, some of them weren't enough to make the finals. We have a young team and they are learning what this is all about, but they are competing to the best of their abilities. It will be an interesting weekend."
The Panthers made it evident they were ready to compete on the track from the opening gun. In the first track event of the championship competition, Evann Thompson won her qualifying heat of the 400 meter hurdles and earned the automatic bid into Saturday's final.
Running against Samantha Elliot of Clemson, who holds the ACC's second best time and the nation's 13th fastest overall, Thompson beat her and won the heat in a time of 58.82. She ran the second fastest qualifying time on Thursday and will have a preferred lane in Saturday's final.
Freshman Laila Ismail put together the best 400MH race of her life and set a massive personal-best time of 59.39, which was over a second and a half faster than her previous career-best. Ismail placed eighth in qualifying, which is normally the last qualifying spot for the finals, but Miami's Jamika Glades won the previous heat and earned the automatic spot in the finals, despite finishing ninth overall.
In the men's 400 meter hurdles, sophomore Desmond Palmer, the favorite going into the event, cruised to victory in the opening heat with a winning time of 51.42. In that same heat, junior Dustin Fuller ran the best time of his career with a 52.69, which was good for third in the heat and sixth overall as both Panthers qualified for Saturday's final. Palmer will be seeded second heading into the finals.
Senior long jumper Julia Koloski had a season-best distance in the long jump with a 5.85, which placed her 10th overall. Koloski though, only jumped twice before injuring her foot and will not compete in her best event of the triple jump. She had the ACC's second best distance in that event.
Other notable personal-record performances on the track include: Alyssa Wise in the 200 meter dash (24.26 -- 15th), Khadeja Kearney in the 400 meter hurdles (1:02.03 -- 19th) and Morgan Perry in the 1,500 (4:30.62 -- 30th)
DECATHLON:
After completing the first five events of the 10 event competition, junior Luke Gallaher sits in third place with 3,828 points, while sophomore Christian Percy is in 10th with 3,484 points.
Gallaher notched top five finishes in three of the five events on Thursday, including winning the high jump and taking second in the 100 meter dash. He ran away with the high jump by clearing 2.05m (6-8.75), while the next best height was 1.96m. In the 100 meter dash, Gallaher's time of 11.05 was a new personal-best.
The decathletes will conclude their action tomorrow with the 110 meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1,500 meter run.   
MORNING SESSION:
Three of Andrew Wells' six hammer throw attempts broke his own school record and Wells placed seventh overall with his best distance of 62.67m.
Heading into the meet with a previous personal-best and school record mark of 60.42 meters, Wells threw further than that on five of his six throws.
In his first throw of the day, which came in Flight 2 of qualifying action, Wells went 60.95m, which was the first of three new school records he would throw on the day and it was good to make the nine-person final.
In his final three throws, Wells went 61.71m, 61.63m and then ended with a massive PR and school record of 62.67m. He placed seventh overall in the competition (out of 25) and earned two points for the Panthers.
VIDEO: Wells Discusses School Record
Participating in Flight 1 of the hammer, freshman Bruce Robinson notched a new PR with a distance of 50.36m and placed 20th overall.
In the women's hammer throw, senior Haley Springman made the finals, but missed scoring by one place as she finished ninth overall with a distance with 54.44m.
UP NEXT:
Action at Mike Long Track continues tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the women's javelin. Click here for live results.
