CLEVELAND, Tenn. / ATHENS, Ga. –  The Georgia Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the weekend with quality performances at the Lee Fast Break Athletics Invitational and Spec Towns Invitational on Friday evening.

Aaron Jones and Sarah Noel showcased their talents in Athens at the 400m hurdles with top ACC times. A. Jones came across the line at 52.00 in the race to set his fourth consecutive ACC standard time in the event. He beat out his personal best set last week by 0.07 seconds and strengthened his hold on the sixth fastest conference time set this season.

Noel nearly replicated her first sub-minute time in the 400m hurdles, finishing at 1:00.35 to record her second straight ACC standard mark.

Back at Lee, Taylor Wade and Alexander Arrambide required a photo finish in the 1500m to separate the two Jackets in the 1-2 finish. Wade’s leg extended just past Arrambide’s to secure the race victory and set the Lee facility record at 3:44.03.

In the women’s 1500m, Hannah Schemmel eclipsed her previous best at 4:30.63 to place second overall. Macy Felton and Sophie D’Elena finished 19th and 20th at 4:43.48 and 4:44.41 with Ellie Moritz clocking in at 4:52.68. Ella Grace Malcom set her personal best in the 800m at the Spec Towns Invitational to finish third overall at 2:17.10 with McKenzie Blackledge right behind at 2:18.11.

In the long distance races, freshman Sadie Honig ran 17:01.86 with Katie Hamfeldt pacing at 17:09.74 in the women’s 5000m. Fellow freshman Wyatt Windham led the squad at 14:26.45 for the men. Ava Coffey finished at 36:31.33 in the first heat of the 10,000m with the second heat beginning tomorrow. Caden Terrell set his season best at 21.72 in the 200m.

Georgia Tech will finish out the Spec Towns Invitational with field and running events throughout the afternoon on Saturday.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.

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