North Carolina
ACC Outdoor Championships
Sossah Makes History With Fourth ACC Decathlon Title
April 22, 2011 | Track & Field
April 22, 2011
DURHAM, N.C.- Defending champion Mateo Sossah claimed his fourth ACC decathlon title Friday to lead the Carolina track and field team on the second day of the ACC Outdoor Championships. Sossah is the first athlete from any school to win four ACC decathlon titles.
Sossah, a senior from Mons-en-Baroeul, France, was in third place after Thursday's first five decathlon events. Competing through the rain Friday, Sossah still won the discus with a throw of 137-6 and the javelin with a toss of 168-4, and he moved into second going into the final event. Sossah finished second in that 1,500 to score 836 points and claim the win with 7,773 points. The Tar Heels have combined for a conference-leading 10 decathlon titles in ACC history, and Sossah is only the second student-athlete to win the event three straight times.
"Mateo's win is fabulous; he really did a tremendous job in all ten events," head coach Dennis Craddock said. "I'm excited about the effort and enthusiasm I saw today from all of our athletes. We had a lot of people step up, and we're in the right place, ready for tomorrow's finals." Sophomore Chadd Pierce won the pole vault section of the decathlon with a height of 15-5 for 819 points. He finished fourth overall with 6,346 points, more besting his PR by more than 300 points.
Three Tar Heels scored in the women's heptathlon as senior Gabby Gioia took third with 5,243 points. After winning the high jump section Thursday, sophomore Ariel Roberts won the 800 for 826 points today, finishing fifth with 5,075 points. Junior Danielle Brock took sixth with 4,863 points.
In the men's shot put, sophomore Chris DiLorenzo and junior Kyle Goodman each finished with personal-best throws as DiLorenzo placed fifth (57-5 ½) and Goodman took sixth (54-0). Also in the field, junior Chrishawn Williams finished seventh in the women's long jump (19-5 1/4) and senior Donte Nall took seventh in the men's high jump (6-7 1/2). In the only track final of the day, freshman Alex Deir took fifth the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:58.33.
The Tar Heels qualified for finals in 17 different events for Saturday. Freshman Isaac Presson is in second place after today's trials (3:47.04) in the men's 1,500, and sophomore Ashley Verplank is in ninth (4:28.83) on the women's side. Verplank also qualified for the finals of the 800 after taking third in 2:08.06. Senior Dominique Jackson (fourth, 2:08.22) and junior Tasha Stanley (seventh, 2:10.39) also qualified in the women's 800. Junior Jeremy Gerlach won his heat of the men's 800 in 1:52.92 to also qualify for tomorrow's finals.
Senior LaToya James made it through the prelims of both hurdle events, taking second in the 400-meter hurdle trials (58.42) and third in the 100-meter hurdles (13.49). Freshman Devon Carter also qualified for both events, finishing eighth in the 110 hurdles (14.43) and 400 hurdles (53.84). Also qualifying for finals in the men's 400 hurdles are freshman Roy Smith with the leading time of 52.88 and sophomore Reynaldo Raldin, who is third in 53.31.
Sophomore Clayton Parros also qualified for finals in two events, as he finished fourth in the men's 200 (48.25) and eighth in the 200 (21.63). Senior Charles Cox qualified for the 400 as well, sitting in fifth in 48.37. In the women's 400, juniors Zoey Russell (third, 54.77) and Elizabeth Mott (fourth, 54.81) and senior Christine Johnson (seventh, 56.12) qualified as well.
Live results are available throughout Saturday's competition, and theACC.com will broadcast the competition live from 4-8 p.m. online.
For the meet schedule and more information on the championships, visit the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships site.
The meet is open to the public, and admission is free for everyone. Fans can also check out the Facebook event page for more information, and follow updates on Twitter through @theACCchamps. The three-day meet concludes Saturday at Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium with field events beginning at noon and track events starting at 4 p.m.
Players Mentioned
