May 30, 2003

FAIRFAX, VA - The Clemson men's track and field competed at the NCAA East Region Championships on Friday on the campus of George Mason University. On day one, the Tigers were led by George Kitchens, who became Clemson's first Region Champion with a win in the long jump. With his mark of 25'7.5", Kitchens automatically advances to the 2003 NCAA Championships to be held June 11-14 at California State University in Sacramento.

Joining Kitchens in the long jump final on Friday, Kai Maull recorded a mark of 23'11.75" and Terrance McDaniel posted a mark of 23'10.25". McDaniel also competed in the high jump, clearing 6'9.75" while doubling in the long jump. Jason Meany completed the 5000m run with a time of 14:46.63 in the other final contested on Friday.

Clemson's 4x100m relay team of Larry Griffin, Otto Spain, Airese Currie and Jacey Harper posted a season-best performance of 39.87 in the preliminaries of the event. They will compete as the third-fastest qualifying team in Saturday's finals. Airese Currie qualified for the finals of the 100m and 200m, with two season-best times of 10.38 and 20.69. Larry Griffin and Tye Hill also competed in the preliminaries of the 100m, narrowly missing the cut for the finals with times of 10.57 and 10.59, respectively. Otto Spain clocked a 47.00 in the preliminaries of the 400m, and Roy Cheney recorded a 15.49 in the 110m hurdle preliminaries after clipping a hurdle at the 200m mark. In the 400m hurdle preliminaries, Cheney led the Tigers with a time of 52.30, while Michael Bolling posted a 52.93. Scott Kautz ran a 54.60 in the intermediate hurdles, and Rashad Gardner recorded a 55.57.