Georgia Tech Invitational Schedule

Georgia Tech Inviational Results

A five-man squad of Detroit sprinters has headed south to Atlanta this weekend for the Georgia Tech Invitational, where the Titans join more than 1,000 athletes and 90 teams in an attempt to improve their regional rankings and earn a bid to the NCAA Preliminary Round.

The top 48 athletes in the region in each event will earn bids to the NCAA Preliminary Round held from May 27-29, in Greensboro, NC. UDM senior thrower Brittany Horne (Okemos, MI/Okemos) is the only Titan to have punched a ticket, as she is currently the owner of the No. 6 hammer mark in the East region at 201 feet, one inch. Originally slated to compete this weekend, Horne will stay on campus to walk at graduation.

“We think these guys all have a bit left in the tank,” UDM head track and field coach Guy Murray said of his Georgia Tech contingent. “Atlanta gives us a better chance of good weather than most, and hopefully the wind is favorable so we can close out the year with some great times.”

A trio of Titans will be competing in both the 100 and 200 meter dash. Junior Earnest Cleary (Detroit, MI/Ferndale), sophomore Vushaun Landrum (Windsor, ON/Sandwich Secondary) and senior Deonte Osayande (Detroit, MI/Winans Academy) will be first in action for Detroit as the 100 meter trials get underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Cleary, who defended his title of Horizon League's fastest man with a victory in the 100 at the HL Championships, has a season best of 10.71 seconds, but will need to run 10.50 or better make the top 48. Landrum ran his best in the event, 10.78 seconds, at Bucknell Bison Outdoor Classic in early April, and Osayande's 10.89 this season was run at the HL Championships on April 30.

Cleary, Landrum and Osayande will be joined in the 200 meter dash by junior Lesley Hanna (Exuma, Bahamas/Coakley), who set the Detroit school record in the event during the prelims at the league championships, clocking a time 21.52 seconds. But Hanna's focus in Atlanta will be on the 400 meter dash, where his time of 47.37 seconds has him sitting at No. 52 on the list in the East.

“(Lesley) is in kind of a precarious position,” commented Murray. “Not all ahead of him will declare in the 400 meters for the (NCAA Preliminary Round), but this is the big conference meet weekend and those are the guys we are most worried about moving ahead of him.

“Georgia Tech is great for (Lesley) as he will get to run head-to-head against many of the guys who are in the same precarious position. He has really just rounded into his top form and a PR under his (time of) 47.25 from last year would most likely put him in the top 48.”

Freshman hurdler Anthony Donald (Waterville, OH/Anthony Wayne) has made the trip as well, and will be looking to improve on his top 10 Titan time of 55.49 seconds.