April 19, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The North Carolina men and Virginia Tech women lead after the first day of competition at the 2007 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field on the campus of the University of Maryland.

The Tar Heel men are in front with a 10-point lead over second-place NC State. Florida State is third with 19 points, Virginia Tech is fourth with 17 points and Virginia is fifth with 12 points. Clemson stands in sixth place, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are tied for seventh with 2 points apiece, while Duke rounds out the men's day one standings with one point.

The Hokies' women team stands in first place with 22 points, while Duke follows close behind with 21 points. Virginia and Wake Forest stand in third and fourth place, respectively, with point tallies of 21 and 17. Clemson's 14 points has the Tigers in fifth, as Maryland, NC State and Florida are tied in sixth with 12 points apiece. Miami totaled 10 points for ninth place, while Georgia Tech and North Carolina wrap up the women's day one standings with eights points each.

Senior Tamara Burns of Virginia Tech set a new stadium record in the women's hammer throw en route to capturing the 2007 title. Burns' sixth throw of 198'05" (60.48m) passed the previous best set by Syracuse's Johvonne Hernandez, who went 191'01" in the 2006 Maryland Invitational. Georgia Tech sophomore Kimery Hern picked up eight points for the Yellow Jackets as she came in second with a mark of 193'05" (58.96m), while Clemson senior Della Clark took third place at 183'05" (55.92m).

In the first event of the men's competition, the hammer throw, North Carolina senior Nick Owens set a stadium record with his fifth throw of the day (223'03", 68.05m). The previous stadium record of 198'03" was set by Dan Belcher of Northeastern in the 2001 Maryland Invitational. Matej Muza of Virginia Tech threw 222'06" (67.81m) on his final attempt to place second, while NC State rounded out the third and fourth place accolades. Wolfpack senior Chris Crawford threw 186'06" (56.86m), good for third place, as teammate Mitchell Pope picked up additional points for a fourth-place mark with a throw of 179'07" (54.75m).

In the men's javelin, Justin Ryncavage of North Carolina collected the title with a throw of 233'05" (71.15m). That mark set the third stadium record of the day as the previous record holder was Eric Lander of Clemson, who set a 220'04" mark in the 1996 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Tar Heel teammate Adam Montague finished second with his toss of 219'09" (66.97m), while Virginia Tech junior Kevin Moore wrapped up third place with his mark of 213'08" (65.12m).

Duke's Daina Pucurs picked up the first 2007 outdoor track and field title for the Blue Devils, as the junior won the women's javelin throw. Her first throw of 154'00" (46.94m) was best in the field, topping Virginia's Meghan Briggs (145'04", 44.31m), who came in second, and third place Linda Buchholz of Clemson (143'00", 43.59m).

In the women's high jump competition, Maryland junior Toni Aluko jumped for a career-best height of 5'10" (1.78m), collecting 10 points for the Terrapin women and a first-place honor. Duke senior Debra Vento placed second, having cleared 5'08.75 (1.75m), while freshman Tiara Swanagan of Florida State picked up a third-place finish with a mark of 5'7" (1.70m).

Wake Forest senior Michelle Sikes won the women's 10,000m run with a new ACC outdoor track and field record and Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field record time of 32:58.20. The previous ACC record was set in 1984 by North Carolina Joan Nesbit, who set a time of 33:00.53, while the Sikes and ten other ACC runners bettered the previous stadium record of 35:56.67. NC State senior Julia Lucas was next to cross the finish line, clocking a time of 33.11.23, while Virginia senior Kara Scanlin placed third with a mark of 33:53.32.

Clemson junior Matt Clark won the men's 10,000m run with a time of 29:46.26. Close behind him was NC State junior Wesley Smith, who recorded a second-place time of 29:49.99. Andrew Dumm and Ryan Foster of Virginia wrapped up the top times as the Cavalier duo tabbed times of 29:52.61 and 30:04.86, respectively.

Maryland junior Christina Smith holds the lead after the first day of competition in the women's heptathlon with 3,342 points. Miami senior Amy Seward stands in second with 3,237 points, while Gunild Kreb of Virginia Tech tallied 3,114 points over day one's competition for a third-place slot. Four different individuals won today's events - Seward (100m hurdles, 200m dash), Smith (high jump-tie), Kreb (shot put), NC State freshman Kayla Lawson (high jump-tie). Day two of the heptathlon will feature the long jump, javelin throw and 800-meter events.

Clemson senior Ryan Koontz leads the men's decathlon after day one of competition, with 3,739 points. Koontz took top honors in the shot put, second-place heights in the high jump and a third-place finish in the 100m dash. North Carolina freshman Mateo Sossah stands in second place with 3,705 points, while Miami senior Roland DaSilva finished the day in third with 3,619 points. Sossah notched two top performances in the long jump and high jump, while DaSilva's time in the 100m dash helped the veteran to a top-three lead after day one.

Day two of the decathlon will feature the 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500m run events.

Day two of the 2007 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship begins with men's decathlon action at 10:00 a.m. ET, followed by the men's discus at 10:30 a.m. and the completion of the women's heptathlon at 11:00 a.m. Concluding the morning field events is the men's high jump.

ACC fans can watch coverage of the 2007 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship on ACCSelect.com. For more information on all ACC Championships, go to TheACC.com

Men's Day One Results
1. North Carolina, 32 points
2. NC State, 22 points
3. Florida State, 19 points
4. Virginia Tech, 17 points
5. Virginia, 12 points
6. Clemson, 10 points
T7. Wake Forest, 2 points
T7. Georgia Tech, 2 points
9. Duke, 1 point

Women's Day One Results
1. Virginia Tech, 22 points
2. Duke, 21 points
3. Virginia, 20 points
4. Wake Forest, 17 points
5. Clemson, 14 points
6. Maryland, 12 points
NC State, 12 points
Florida State, 12 points
9. Miami, 10 points
10. Georgia Tech, 8 points
North Carolina, 8 points