April 18, 2003

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Clemson women's track and field team is in fourth place after day one of the 2003 ACC Outdoor Championships held at NC State's Paul Derr Track. North Carolina leads the competition with 107 points, Virginia is second with 64 points, Florida State ranks third with 45 points and Clemson is in fourth with 26 points. NC State is fifth with 21 points, Georgia Tech ranks sixth with 16 points, Maryland and Wake Forest have scored 11 points each and Duke has 10 points.

In Friday's finals, three Lady Tigers earned all-conference honors. Joana Costa placed third in the pole vault with a clearance of 12'4" to earn All-ACC accolades. In the long jump, Gisele Oliveira was the runner-up with a leap of 20'6.5" to move into third on the Lady Tigers' all-time list, and Katie Pickett placed third in the high jump with a clearance of 5'7". Mary Gosselin was a scorer for the Lady Tigers in the hammer throw with a mark of 157'3". Elizabeth Lord placed fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 128'9", and Silja Ulfarsdottir scored for Clemson with her mark of 118'5".

Lauren Nicholson is fourth in the heptathlon after the first day of competition. She has a total of 3,126 points, with only 54 points separating the top four competitors.

Danielle Whaley qualified for Saturday's finals in the 100m with a season-best time of 12.02, and she will also compete in the 200m finals. She advanced to the 200m finals with a time of 24.37. Shakirah Rutherford, Denise Cruse and Silja Ulfarsdottir all qualified for the finals of the 400m, and Rutherford and Cruse recorded season-best times. Rutherford led the Lady Tigers with a time of 54.55, Cruse posted a time of 55.45 and Ulfarsdottir advanced with a time of 55.78. Marquita Dortch will compete in the 100m hurdles finals after recording a season-best time of 14.30, and Ulfarsdottir, Rutherford and Dortch will compete in the 400m hurdles finals after posting times of 1:01.11, 1:01.26, and 1:02.54, respectively. Clemson's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams will compete on Saturday, and Katrina Moultrie, Gisele Oliveira and Angela Thomas will compete in the triple jump. Allison Bradshaw will compete in the finals of the shot put also on Saturday.