Dec. 1, 2007

Clemson, S.C. - A slimmed down version of the Hawks and Lady Hawks took part in the Clemson Opener Indoor Track and Field Meet this past Saturday in South Carolina.

Shorter had three runners finish in the top ten of their respective events and got a good start to the season according to assistant coach Jay Stephenson.

"I think it was kind of more just a business-as-usual type feeling," Stephenson said. "I think that's just a result of them being really mature and realizing it's only the first meet of the year.

"They know there's a lot of improvements to make and this was just the first step."

Stephenson said that the race of the day belonged to Amy Worthy, who placed eighth in the finals of the women's 3,000-meters.

Her time of 11 minutes, 8.51 seconds was 1:20 faster than her personal best last season.

Andrew Rodriguez, who won his heat in the men's mile, came in fifth in the finals with a time of 4:35.75.

Allen O'Neal ran the men's 800 in 1:59.17 to finish seventh overall while Kaitlin Shaw came in at 5:58.50 to take 19th in the women's mile and Alex Compton took 16th in the men's 3,000 meters with a time of 9:43.25.

Kyle Chapman and Steven Rich placed 16th and 21st in the men's mile with times of 4:40.96 and 4:42.36, respectively.

The meet included competitors from Division I schools such as Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Florida A&M and host Clemson.

This marks the first season that Shorter's track and field team will compete in the Mid-South Conference.

Their next event is scheduled for Dec. 16 at the Jacksonville Bank Marathon in Jacksonville, Fla.

For complete meet results, here.