Feb. 4, 2008

AKRON, Ohio - The Wake Forest track team had a successful weekend at the Akron open, propelled by Kevin Marion, Nicole Schappert and Melissa Council who took top places in the Gold Division events and earned places in the WFU all-time top performances list.

In his first event of the 2008 indoor season, senior Kevin Marion registered the second longest jump in Wake Forest program history on Saturday with a mark of 7.35m. Marion, who recently wrapped up his final season as a starting wide receiver for the Demon Deacon football team, also ran a personal best in the 200m dash. His 21.83 mark was the eighth best finish in school history.

Junior Nicole Schappert's personal best time of 9:31.86 in the 3000m event was the eighth best mark in school history and good for second place in the Saturday race.

Melissa Council, who set a school record in the 55m dash at the Virginia Invitational earlier this season, set a personal best mark in the 400m dash with a mark of 55.25. The mark falls just behind of the school record 54.60, set in 2004 by Carol Merritt. Council's performance was the third WFU second place Gold Division finish of the day.

Senior Molly Kennedy was the lone Demon Deacon representative in the Pentathlon, where she came in third overall with a mark of 3558, including a fourth place finish in the shot put and long jump portions of the event with a third place finish 800 meter run.

Sophomore Caroline Vaughn placed second in the Blue Division 60m hurdles with a time of 8.71, bettering her top mark of 8.75 for the 2007 Indoor season and her most recent time of 8.90 at the Clemson Invitational on January 18.

The Demon Deacons will be back in competition next weekend for the Virginia Tech Elite meet in Blacksburg, Va.