TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State’s track and field program pulled off an upset last year at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships and they are hoping for the same kind of performance this year at the conference championships being held at NC State Thursday-Saturday.
“We were picked to finish third in the league on the men’s side last year and fifth on the women’s,” said Head Coach Bob Braman who leads all active ACC coaches with 12 men’s outdoor championships and five women’s titles. “We ended up winning the men’s championship by the largest scoring margin in ACC history and the women were only nine points shy of a title of their own.
“This feels like a similar scenario, but it would be very difficult to have as monstrous a meet as we had last year,” Braman said.
The Seminoles will count on their leaders at the always-challenging conference championships and they have been up to the task all season. Jeremiah Davis, Dajaz DeFrand, Amir Willis, Alyson Churchill, Caisa Lindfors and Milton Ingraham have been fantastic virtually every week according to Braman and a top finish by the Noles will depend on outstanding performances from this core group.
Davis, who is the 2023 ACC Indoor Track & Field Performer of the Year, and a first team All-American in both the long and triple jumps, has the top long jump in the country this year at 8.19 meters and his best triple jump is the third-best mark in the NCAA at 16.78 meters. He will be the favorite in both the ACC and NCAA Championships in both events.
FSU’s men’s team enters the ACC Championship with eight regular season performances that rank among the top three in the conference including Ismael Kone’s ACC best time of 9.98 in the 100 meters and Davis’ long jump.
The women’s team has six regular season performances that rank among the three best in the league all year and four that are the best in the ACC to date. Freshman Dajaz DeFrand’s 11.14 in the 200 meters and 22.75 in the 200 meters stand as the best times by any conference athlete this season. Alexandra Webster leads the ACC with a time of 56.96 in the 400 meter hurdles and Caisa-Marie Lindfors has the top discus throw of the season at 59.81 meters.
“We are truly balanced on both squads,” Braman said. “We have impact throwers, a big distance star on each side and good depth at sprints and hurdles.
“We’ve overcome injuries pretty well this season and are mostly…