The Chattanooga track and field team closes out the regular season this week at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta.
“We are looking forward to a very competitive meet this weekend as we are quickly drawing an end to the season,” Mocs head coach Andy Meyer said. “We have had a good two week stretch of training and this will be the last chance to tune up our racing skills before the conference meet in a couple of weeks. Many of the kids will be in their racing events or related events to improve their fitness.”
The Georgia Tech Invite begins Friday, April 19 and concludes Saturday, April 20.
Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Maddie Wheatcroft and Kathryn Vradenburgh will compete in the 1500 meter run. Vradenburgh is 15th in the Southern Conference standings after posting a 4:41.57 at the Lee Invitational on March 22. Wheatcroft is 19th in the league standings with a 4:45.06 on the same day.
The women’s 5000 meter race will start with the first heat at 9:10 p.m. Friday night and the second 40 minutes later. Leah Boyd is the Mocs top runner in the meet with a SoCon ranking of 18 and a time of 17:37.67 at the Lee Fast Break Invitational on April 5. Joining her will be Lola Baker, Michaela Dabney and Andrea Ellis.
The men’s 5000 meter run is in three heats beginning at 9:30 p.m. Friday. Aaron Isbell’s time of 14:25.80 at the Raleigh Relays on March 28 sits fourth in the SoCon standings. Jack Martin is 14th with a top time of 15:08.69 at the Lee Invitational. Kaigen Mulkey is 17th with a time of 15:13.18 at the Lee-Fast Break Invitational.
Rounding out the Top 25 for the men is Eamonn O’Bryant at 24th with a time of 15:30.33 at the Lee-Fast Break Invitational and Riley Hanson right behind at 15:31.68 at the same meet. Also running is Tristan Gould and Caleb Jarrett.
Saturday’s action begins with Sarah Unterholzner in the 400 meter hurdles at 1:30 p.m. She holds the fifth fastest SoCon time this season of 1:05.47 at the Lee – Fast Break Invitational.
Ava McGue follows in the 400 meter Dash at 2:20 p.m. She is 14th in the SoCon standings with a time of 1:01.54 set at the Lee-Fast Break Invitational.
Lexi Foley and Kennedy Reynolds are running the 800 meter at 3:30 p.m. Foley ranks 14th on the league list at 2:21.37 and Reynolds is 23rd with a time of 2:26.92, both at the Lee-Fast Break Invitational.
The meet will conclude Saturday afternoon with the 4x400 meter relay at 5:30 p.m. The women have two teams entered in the race. Foley, McGue, Unterholzner and Olivia Steele are set to run the relay as Team A while Reynolds, Hannah Dearing, Allie Potter and Brooke Tyll will run on Team B.
“This is one of the kids favorite meets of the year,” Meyer said. “Basically, all the distance racing is showcased Friday night and all the sprint racing on Saturday afternoon. That way each discipline gets their own separate day and time.”