North Carolina
ACC Outdoor Championships
Tar Heels Open ACC Outdoors
April 16, 2009 | Track & Field
April 16, 2009
MIAMI - The duo of Mateo Sossah and Daniel Keller turned in impressive performances on the opening day of the ACC Outdoor Championships in Miami, Fla. Thursday afternoon as Sossah owns the top spot in the decathlon with an 83-point lead over teammate Daniel Keller after five events. On the women's side Alexandra Coppadge sits in second place in the heptathlon after four events with 3,206 points, just nine behind the leader. Action resumes at 9 a.m. on Friday in Miami as the track events get underway.
Sossah opened the day's competition with a sixth-place showing in the 100-meter dash as he clocked a time of 11.45 for 763 points tying teammate Matthew Villemain (11.45, 763) and edging out Daniel Keller (11.48, 757). Sossah turned in an even better performance in the long jump as he tallied a decathlon-best jump of 23-10 1/4 for 878 points. Keller claimed 828 points with a top leap of 23-2, while Villemain cleared 20-10 3/4 for 668 points.
Keller and Sossah went 1-2 in the shot put as Keller posted a top throw of 45-6 1/4 for 720 points, while Sossah went 44-3 1/4 for point total of 697. Villemain managed a top throw of 30-10 1/4 for 450 points. The high jump saw Sossah and Keller each clear 6-8 1/4 for 840 points, a foot and a quarter higher than the next closest competitor. To close out the day's competition Sossah finished third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.44 for 841 more points and a day one total of 4,019.
Keller sits in second place 83 points behind Sossah after he finished day one with 3,936 points. Also set to score for the Tar Heels is Matthew Villemain who is in eighth place after day one with 3,419 points. Sossah earned Carolina's first two points of the weekend with a toss of 199-3 in the javelin for a seventh place finish and two team points. Evan Watchempino added three more points to Carolina's total in the 10,000-meter run to close out the day's events as he finished sixth overall in a time of 31:16.10.
Meanwhile in the women's heptathlon, Alexandra Coppadge started off the first day of ACCs with a solid showing and trails Maryland's Kiani Profit by just nine points. Coppadge tallied a 14.24 in the 100-meter hurdles for 945 points to start out the day on the right foot. Coppadge then cleared 5-5 1/4 for 806 points before tallying 631 points with a shot put toss of 37-10 3/4.
To close out the day Coppadge finished fourth in the 200-meter dash in a time of 25.70 for 824 more points for a day one total of 3,206 points. Gabby Gioia sits in fifth place overall with an even 3,000 points after opening with 906 points (14.52) in the 100-meter hurdles. Gioia then tallied 806 in the high jump (5-5 1/4), 554 in the shot put (34-0 1/4) and 734 in the 200-meter dash (26.73).
Gioia picked up five points for the Tar Heels in the javelin when she finished fourth overall with a top throw of 142-2, just an inch shy of third place.
Action resumes in Miami at 9 a.m. on Friday as the multi-events wrap up and track events get underway.
Players Mentioned
