Syracuse University
Binghamton Triangular
Two-Meet Tune-Up Before BIG EAST Meet
2/12/2009 1:28:53 PM | Track and Field
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – For the fourth consecutive week, the Syracuse indoor track & field team will diverge into two squads to compete in the final tune-up before the BIG EAST Indoor Championship next weekend in New York City.
On Friday, the Orange will participate in the nearby Binghamton Triangular hosted by Binghamton University on Friday, Feb. 13. Syracuse will also return to Boston for the third time in four weeks to ring in the celebration of Valentine's Day at the two-day Valentine Invitational hosted by Boston University. The competition starts on Friday and will finish on Saturday at BU's Track and Tennis Center.
Syracuse had a busy four-meet weekend last week highlighted by the freshmen tandem of Pat Dupont and Tito Medrano at the 2009 USA Cross Country Championships at the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, Md. The top six finishers in the junior men's 8K would qualify for the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championship in Amman, Jordan at the end of March. In six weeks, the Middle East will have two Orange members of the cross country and track & field team in Dupont and Medrano represent Syracuse University overseas. Dupont and Medrano finished fifth and sixth, respectively, garnering the chance to wear the Red, White and Blue at the 2009 IAAF World Cross Country Championship. Dupont blazed the 8K path in 24:39 while his teammate Medrano closed out his day in 24:42.
At the New Balance Collegiate at the Armory in New York City, two more indoor records were reset. Sophomore Flings Owusu-Agyapong broke her own record in the 60-meter dash at the second-straight meet with a new standard and NCAA-Provisional mark of 7.38. Senior hurdler Ramon Sosa returned to prime form, eclipsing his own record in the 60-meter hurdles he set at last year's NCAA Championship. Sosa's old benchmark of 7.78 was outdone on Friday night at the Armory with a second-place, NCAA-Provisional time of 7.75. Senior Skyy Simmons locked up an IC4A bid in the 500-meter with a sixth-place time of 1:03.60. Senior Mike LeBlanc finished up in sixth place with an NCAA-Provisional time of 6.72, tying his best mark he put forth at Penn State last week.
At the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, junior Brad Miller and senior Kyle Heath were two of 10 privileged athletes to run with the nation's elite at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston. Miller, Syracuse's indoor mile record holder (4:00.19), and Heath, the previous runner to set the mile standard, competed in the collegiate stratum of the mile run. Heath turned out an NCAA-Provisional fifth-place time of 4:02.92 while Miller came in 10th with an IC4A-eligible clip of 4:13.79.
Back home in the comfy confines of Manley Field House, Syracuse chalked up five first-place finishes, four second-place showings and nine third-place performances at the two-day Syracuse Invitational. Sophomore Kelsey Ruebor was crowned the pentathlon champion while the women's long jump podium was plastered with a 1-2-3 Orange finish as sophomore Uhunoma Osazuwa set a personal-best with a first-place, ECAC-qualifying just of 5.83m. Junior Dan Busby returned to the oval in the men's 3K for a second-place, IC4A-eligible time of 8:20.27.
Following the journeys to Binghamton and Boston, the Orange is primed to channel all of its hard work and phenomenal finishes towards the BIG EAST Indoor Championship at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory, New York, NY. The event kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 21 and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 22. Both days are set to go off at 8:00 am.
