Pitt
Wake Forest Open
Palmer Wins 110 Hurdles at Wake Forest Open
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. -- Highlighted by All-American Desmond Palmer winning the 110 meter hurdles, the Pitt men's and women's track and field teams concluded the opening day of action in their first meet of the season at the Wake Forest Open.
Palmer left no doubt who the best hurdler was as he qualified first in prelims with a time of 14.38, and then ran a 14.10 in the finals to claim the title. He was just five tenths of a second off her career best time.
"Today was an opportunity to get an idea of how much work is ahead of us and to check our competitivness," head coach Alonzo Webb said. "Overall I was impressed and pleasantly surprised by many of the performances, especially because we have not had the chance to train outdoors yet. The weather was perfect today which makes it easier to achieve great performances. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be a challenge with rain and a drop in temperature so I will be interested in seeing if the same attitude and intensity that we need will be there."
In the women's 100 meter dash, sophomore Alyssa Wise opened her season with an 11.94 in prelims which qualified her sixth for finals, and she followed that up with an 11.82 in the finals to claim fifth place overall.
The Panthers also had an excellent showing in the women's 1,500 meter run, placing five athletes inside the top-10. Amy Kelly led the pack with a fourth place finish in a time of 4:31.48, and she was followed by Melanie Vlasic (5th -- 4:32.33), Miranda Salvo (7th -- 4:33.85), Gillian Schriever (8th -- 4:33.90) and Ellen Crook (10th -- 4:35.14).
Freshman Matt McGoey in the men's 1,500 meter dash took fourth place with a career best time of 3:53.89.
In the field, Racquel Williams and Kailyn Clancy had top-5 finishes in the shot put as Williams took second place with a distance of 15.03m and Clancy placed fifth with a 14.06m.
Participating in his first meet for the Panthers, freshman Grant Jones took home third place in the men's javelin with a distance of 62.56m. Teammate Robert Quinby placed 13th at 51.00m.
The Panthers continue action at the Wake Forest open tomorrow morning. Click here for live results.
