Another School Record Falls On Day Two At ACC Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Matt Hawley/Pitt Athletics

Another School Record Falls On Day Two At ACC Outdoor Championships

5/15/2021 12:08:00 PM | Track & Field

RALEIGH, NC – Another Pitt track and field school record fell on the second day of the ACC Championships at Paul Derr Track Facility in Raleigh, NC. Josh Higgins broke his own school record in the 3000m steeplechase, the final race of the night for the Panthers.

The Pitt men currently sit in 10^th place with 12 team points while the Pitt women are currently in 14^th place with one team point. Both squads have opportunities to better their position on Saturday as the men will compete in eight finals while the women have six finals to try and make a charge up the leaderboards.

The highlight of the night came in the final race of the evening on Friday as senior Josh Higgins posted a ninth place finish in the men's 3000m steeplechase with a new school record time of 8:45.02. Higgins was able to break his own school record that he set a couple weeks ago. Fellow senior Zach Lefever finished close behind in 8:49.94, the third fastest time in program history, while Jack Miller notched the fourth fastest time in program history in 8:51.00. In the women's 3000m steeplechase, freshman Emily Brown finished strong and posted the second best time in program history, crossing the finish line in 10:29.00.

Pitt had a pair of guys punch their tickets to the finals on Friday afternoon as senior Ade Jones-Roundtree posted a personal record time of 46.42 seconds in the 400m dash to qualify in third and advance to the Saturday final. His time was the fourth fastest in program history in the event. Fellow senior Kollin Smith didn't have a great start but finished strong in the 110m hurdles to qualify for the finals, crossing the finish line with the seventh fastest time in the prelims, 14.38 seconds.

In the first event of the day, Brianna Spirnak was able to post an eighth place finish and earn a team point for the Panthers in the javelin as she had a long throw of 151-9 (46.27m).
The Panthers had multiple student-athletes just miss out on qualifying for the finals as junior Eddita Pessima posted the ninth fastest time in the 100m hurdles (13.53 seconds). Her time was .02 seconds off of qualifying for the Saturday final. Dante Watson notched the eighth fastest time overall in the men's 800m run (1:51.34) but due to a slower time earning the automatic qualifying spot for winning his heat, Watson narrowly missed out on the finals (.42 seconds).

Senior Koryn Jozwiakowski had a strong showing in the triple jump as she collected third place in her heat and 13^th place overall with a season-best jump of 38-7.75 (11.78m). Fellow senior Abena Atuobi narrowly missed out on the finals in the shot put as she posted an 11^th place finish with a toss of 49-3 (15.01m).

UP NEXT

The final day of competition begins at 2:00 pm as Noah Walker will compete in the discus while Breanna Phillips and Lydia Bottelier will look for some hardware in the high jump.
In total, Pitt will have 18 individuals and four relay teams competing on day three of the championship.