Syracuse University
BIG EAST Indoor Championship
BIG EAST Championship in the Big Apple
2/19/2009 12:29:00 PM | Track and Field
2009 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
BIG EAST Championship Schedule of Events
Men's Indoor Results
Women's Indoor Results
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – As the 2009 indoor season has seen four Orange indoor records tumble already, the Syracuse men's and women's track & field team has conditioned itself to be a formidable contender at the 2009 BIG EAST Indoor Track & Field Championship at the Armory Track located in Manhattan. Competition starts at 8:00am on Saturday, Feb. 21 and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 22.
There will be 21 men and 14 women vying for conference crowns in 28 combined events this weekend in New York City.
So far this season, four men have captured a BIG EAST weekly award. Sophomore transfer Jarret Eaton claimed SU's first decoration in week two for his NCAA Provisional-qualifying mark in the 55-meter hurdles with a second-place showing of 7.31at SU's Welcome Back Meet at Manley Field House.
Junior harrier Brad Miller followed Eaton's success with an astounding NCAA-Automatic qualifying time of 4:00.19 in the mile race on Jan. 24 at the Boston University Terrier Invitational. Miller's new school record reaped the Orange's second-consecutive award.
Junior multi-athlete Jon Buice was named the BIG EAST Male Field Athlete of the Week for his record-breaking performance in the heptathlon at the Penn State National Open on Jan. 31. Buice not only claimed first place, but he reset last year's old mark in the heptathlon for a new Orange school record. Buice's two-day total of 5,259 points is a new Syracuse standard in the men's indoor heptathlon; the old benchmark was his own score he set last season with 5,068 points.
Syracuse's fourth and final honor came in the form of another record-breaking performance in the 60-meter hurdles. Senior Ramon Sosa reset his own school record at the New Balance Collegiate where this year's BIG EAST Championship will be staged. Sosa's new standard of 7.75 yielded a second-place finish and spot on the NCAA-Provisional qualifying list collected Syracuse's fourth straight conference medal.
Sophomore sprinter Flings Owusu-Agyapong smashed the 60-meter dash record on numerous occasions this year with her best mark resting at an NCAA-Provisional qualifying time of 7.38. Owusu-Agyapong's record garnered a third-place finish at the New Balance Collegiate on Feb. 6.
Sprints
Syracuse's sprinters have enjoyed a great deal of success this season as senior Michael LeBlanc and Owusu-Agyapong. LeBlanc will be pegged as a heavy favorite in the 60-meter dash with his top time coming at the Armory in a preliminary heat with an NCAA-Provisional time of 6.71. Owusu-Agyapong will be one of three Orange women to make their mark in the Big Apple. Sophomore Lareea Chisolm will also compete in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter race while senior Lauren McClenney will don the Orange in the 500-meter race after claiming a first and third place finish in BIG EAST-qualifying fashion this season.
Five other men will join LeBlanc on the oval, spreading out over three sprinting events. Seniors Antoine Clark, Terry Marshall and Skyy Simmons and sophomores Sham Lewis and Victor Nwosu all proved themselves in the regular season and will have the chance to boast a conference title. Lewis (6.78) and Clark (6.79) each met IC4A criteria with their best 60-meter marks this year while both Nwosu (7.00) and Marshall (7.02) made the BIG EAST grade at the Cornell Relays back in early December. Simmons has logged IC4A-qualifying times in both the 400-meter (48.80) and 500-meter dash (1:02.69). Simmons' 500-meter mark notched him a silver-showing at the Penn State National Open.
Distance
Junior Maegan Krifchin dusted the competition in last week's tune-up at the Boston University Valentine Invitational, besting 41 other challengers in the 1,000-meter race with an ECAC-qualifying mark of 2:55.00. Krifchin, the women's 1,000-meter record holder (2:50.54), will join sophomore Erin Schirm of the men's contingent in 1,000-meter challenge. Schirm's sixth-place showing of 2:27.49 at the Valentine Invite notched him a spot in the 2.5 lap race.
Miller's magnificent mile pegs him as one of the favorites while the previous mile record holder, senior Kyle Heath, will be right beside him in the mile event as the fourth-year posted a season-best, NCAA-Provisional time of 4:01.47 for a third-place showing at the PSU Open. Schirm will be SU's third male in the mile with his conference-qualifying time of 4:12.22. Sophomore Katie Hursey and Krifchin will represent the Orange women in the mile event, also. Hursey's ECAC-qualifying clip of 4:51.08 for third place in Boston denotes the women's fastest mile time this season.
Eight Orange will take a stab at the 3,000-meter crown as six women and eight men meet BIG EAST requirements earlier in the year. Third-year distance runner Jay Koloseus tallied the Orange's fastest time in the 3,000-meter at Penn State with an IC4A-qualifying of 8:16.59 for sixth. Junior Dan Busby partook in the 3,000-meter only once this season, but notched a spot in the BIG EAST meet at Manley Field House with a time of 8:20.27. Hursey's top-billing at Penn State with an ECAC-eligible clip slots her in two conference races while sophomores Catherine DeSarle and Rebekah MacKay will compete with Hursey. Natalie Busby, Dan's sister, and two other rookies in Heather Stephens and Carly Hamond will all make their BIG EAST debut in the 3,000-meter.
Junior Curtis Bixler and sophomore Steve Weeks will join Koloseus, DeSarle, Busby and Stephens in the 5,000-meter run to round out the distance portion of the BIG EAST Championship.
Hurdles
Sosa will lead the Orange charge in the hurdles competition after resetting the 60-meter record (7.75) in Boston on Feb. 6. Joining Sosa on the men's side in the 60-meter hurdles will be Eaton (7.87), Marshall (8.19), freshman Matthew Callanan (8.37) and Buice (8.41). Newcomer Karelle Edwards (8.76) and junior Uhunoma Osazuwa (8.94) will try their luck for the women.
Jumps
Senior Bernard Bush represents SU's top four marks in the long jump this season with Nwosu right on his heels. Bush hit the IC4A mark three times this season, all for first place, with his top performance of 7.26m coming in last week's Binghamton Triangular. Nwosu's (6.74m) second-place mark at the Cornell Relays earned him a position in the long jump. Bush will also take on the competition in the triple jump after recording a season-best spring of 14.15m at Penn State.
Like Bush, Osazuwa owned the top three women's lengths in the long jump with her season-best also coming at Binghamton by leaping for an ECAC, first-place mark of 6.00m.
Buice, SU's indoor heptathlon record holder, qualified for the IC4A's at Penn State with his 2.07m leap in the high jump as part of the pentathlon. Buice will be accompanied by senior Mike Chitro (1.99m) and sophomore Evan Stivala (1.93m) in the high jump. Junior Annabelle Pellerin hit the 1.68m qualifying mark twice for first place, both at Cornell, while third-year member Melissa Romero and Osazuwa also met the BIG EAST standard with a 1.68m mark in the high jump.
Buice will also be SU's lone competitor in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 4.35m while this season.
Throws
Sophomore Kwaku Boah, also a member of the Orange football team, will take his spot in the circle in both the shot put and weight throw. Boah's best lob in the shot put came at the Cornell Upstate with a sixth-place toss of 14.66m. In SU's other meet in Ithaca, Boah heaved the 35-lb. weight for a BIG EAST-qualifying mark of 16.22m.
Multi-Events
Buice's first-place, IC4A and school record performance at Penn State of 5,259 points pegs him as a lethal participant in the men's heptathlon. Buice will convoy with Chitro, who tallied a third-place, IC4A point total of 4,895.
Osazuwa will be SU solo woman competing in the pentathlon after becoming eligible with her 3,504 total for eighth place at Penn State.
