CORAL GABLES, Fla. (theACC.com) – The 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships are set for Thursday through Saturday at Cobb Stadium on the campus of the University of Miami.
 
This marks the second year that Miami will serve as the host school for the event and the first time since 2009.
 
ACC Network Extra will again stream three hours of live action on the event’s first night (Thursday, May 10), followed by four hours of coverage on Friday and Saturday evenings.  Sean Kenney returns to handle play-by-play, while former U.S. Olympic standout Dan O’Brien will serve as analyst. The pair will be joined by distance race analyst David Mitchell and Melanie Newman as sideline reporter. Rick Willenzik will produce the broadcasts.
 
ACC Network Extra will bring live action Thursday from 6-9 p.m. Friday’s live coverage will air from 5:30-9:30 p.m., followed by Saturday’s finals from 5-9 p.m.
 
Links to each day’s livestream:
 
Thursday
6 pm: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3357487/acc-track--field-championships
 
Friday
5:30 pm: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3357486/acc-track--field-championships
 
Saturday
5 pm: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3357490/acc-track--field-championships
 
Competition begins Thursday at 11 a.m. with the opening men’s decathlon events, and women’s heptathlon competition is set to begin at noon. Finals are scheduled in the men’s hammer throw (3 p.m.), men’s high jump (4:30 p.m.), women’s hammer throw (6 p.m.), women’s pole vault (6 p.m.) and women’s high jump (7:30 p.m.).
 
Prelims are set for early Thursday evening in several running events, followed by the women’s 10,000-meter final at 7:55 p.m. and the men’s 10,000 at 8:35.
 
A full slate of events and preliminaries continues Friday and Saturday, with finals in most of the running events wrapping up the Championships on Saturday evening.
 
The Florida State men – who captured the ACC Indoor title at Clemson in February – enter this year’s Outdoor Championship holding the No. 10 spot in the latest USTFCCCA national rankings. On the women’s side, defending outdoor champion Virginia Tech enters at No. 21, while host Miami is ranked No. 22.
 
The Virginia Tech men enter this year’s Championship as two-time defending champions, and the Hokie women will be seeking their second consecutive ACC title following last year’s VT sweep in Atlanta.
 
Three ACC student-athletes enter this year’s competition holding the current NCAA-leading mark in their respective events – Syracuse senior Justyn Knight in the men’s 5,000 meters (13:18.74), North Carolina senior Kenny Selmon in the men’s 400 hurdles (48.98) and Virginia Tech freshman Lisa Gunnarsson in the women’s pole vault (15-1/4.60m).
 
Knight also ranks No. 2 nationally in the men’s 1,500 meters, where he set an ACC record of 3:36.07 during the regular season at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Knight’s current time in the 5,000 meters is just off his ACC record of 13:17.71 set during the 2017 Payton Jordan Invitational. Knight enters his final ACC Outdoor Championship as one of the most decorated individual student-athletes in ACC history. He has won 15 ACC Championships, including 10 as an individual, and owns three NCAA Championships, two of which were individual titles.
 
In addition to Knight three other current ACC record holders are slated to be in action this week.
 
Florida State freshman Ka’Tia Seymour – the Most Valuable Track Performer for the champion Seminoles in this year’s ACC Indoor Women’s Championship – recently set a new mark of 11.24 in the women’s 100 meters. Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer is set for the women’s 10,000 meters, where she set a conference mark of 31:58.99 in 2017. A strong men’s pole vault field includes Virginia Tech’s Torben Laidig, who set the ACC record of 5.70 meters (18-8.25) at the 2017 Texas Relays.
 
North Carolina has won a conference-best 14 ACC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Championships, ahead of Clemson’s seven and Virginia’s five. On the men’s side, Clemson and Florida State lead all schools with 11 titles each.
 
Florida State’s Bob Braman leads all active coaches with nine ACC men’s outdoor championships. NC State’s Rollie Geiger owns five, and Virginia Tech’s Dave Cianelli has claimed three.
 
Braman and Cianelli lead active ACC women’s coaches with three league outdoor titles each. Miami’s Amy Deem has guided her teams to two ACC outdoor championships, and Clemson’s Mark Elliott owns one title.
 
For more information on the 2018 ACC Outdoor Track & Field Championships, including a full schedule, please see http://theacc.com/tournaments/?id=24
 
Other links of interest:
 
Schedule of Events: theacc.co/otf18sched
Fan Guide: http://theacc.com/documents/2018/5/7//2018_Outdoor_Track.pdf
Starts Lists: http://theacc.com/documents/2018/5/9//ACC_HeatSheets.pdf?id=500
Live Results: theacc.co/otf18results