North Carolina
ACC Outdoor Championships
Sossah's ACC Title Highlights Day Two For UNC
April 20, 2007 | Track & Field
April 20, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, MD. - Mateo Sossah closed strongly in the final events of the men's decathlon to claim an Atlantic Coast Conference title in the event, helping the North Carolina men's track team maintain its first-place position in the team standings through two days of competition at the ACC Outdoor Championships held Friday at Kehoe Track at Ludwig Field on the campus of the University of Maryland. As well, a solid day from the UNC women propelled them into fourth-place heading into the final day of action Saturday.
Sossah's score of 7,310 points improved upon his provisional qualifying mark - and the fifth-best mark in school history - that he set earlier this year. He trailed Clemson's Ryan Koontz by 46 points after nine events, but put up an 812-point score in the 1,500, running a 4:19.97, to outscore Koontz by 217 points in that event, claiming the overall crown in the process. Daniel Keller joined Sossah in earning All-ACC honors in the decathlon, picking up third place with an NCAA provisional score of his own, recording 7,015 points.
Also contributing greatly to UNC's success on the day was Nick Owens, who followed up yesterday's championship performance in the hammer throw with a runner-up finish in the men's discus. Owens threw 178-3 on his final attempt to place second, earning eight points for the Carolina men and All-ACC honors for himself.
The Tar Heels picked up two more scorers in the men's long jump as Britt Taylor jumped 23-8 to finish fifth and Reggie Berry came in eighth with a 23-1 1/4 effort.
For the Carolina women, Jocelyn White's runner-up performance in the women's discus gave her All-ACC accolades. White threw a season-best 174-5 to finish second and was joined in the scoring by Riana Lynn, who put up a 157-7 to place fourth.
Rhian Jenks also turned in a runner-up performance in the pole vault for the Tar Heels, picking up All-ACC honors with a 12-5 1/2 clearance. Alison McGinnis placed eighth with a 12-1 1/2 mark to score in the event as well.
Also scoring for the UNC women were Laura Cummings, whose 10:42.53 time put her in seventh place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Alexandra Coppadge, who scored 4,777 points in placing eighth in the women's heptathlon.
Qualifying for event finals on Saturday were Brie Felnagle in the 1,500 and 800, Geogia Kloss in the 800, and Tyra Johnson in the 100 and 200. Berry advanced out of the preliminaries in the 400-meter hurdles for the UNC men.
Through eight events, the Tar Heel men have scored 61 points to sit in first. NC State is second with 45 points. The Carolina women have scored 33 points and stand fourth, 21 points behind leader Miami.
Competition at the meet will resume at 11 a.m. Saturday, starting with the women's shot put and the men's triple jump.
For the full meet schedule and more information, check out Championships Central. Live stats will be available at www.flashresults.com.
Players Mentioned
