Syracuse University
Florida State Relays
Osazuwa Takes Home Heptathlon Title
3/28/2009 7:03:58 PM | Track and Field
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The track & field team opened the outdoor season in grand fashion as junior Uhunoma Osazuwa ran away with the women's heptathlon crown at the three-day Florida State Relays. The Orange finished up with two-first place finishes, five second-place performances and one third place contribution in a competition bogged down by heavy rains throughout the weekend.
As the FSU Relays was a scored event, the Syracuse men's team finished in fourth place out of seven teams with 14 points while the women's side was slotted in fifth place out of 11 squads with 15 points.
On Thursday, Osazuwa asserted her claim to the heptathlon after two BIG EAST-qualifying marks of 14.80 in the 100-meter hurdles and 1.68m in the high jump. Both feats were good for first place. Osazuwa dusted the field for first again in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.48. Osazuwa's fortitude in the field paid off for two second-place marks in the shot put and long jump with tallies of 10.68m and 5.53m. Osazuwa wrapped up the seven-event affair with a sixth place fling of 26.71m in the javelin and a time of 2:33.78 in the 800-meter run.
Osazuwa's overall point total of 4,797 earned her a spot to compete at the ECAC's come mid-May.
Sophomore Kelsey Rubeor totaled 4,241 points for fourth place after collecting first place in the shot put (10.97m) and javelin toss (35.67m) along with a third-place mark in the high jump of 1.56m.
Junior Eric Cleckner and senior Mike Chitro wrapped up their first tests of the season in the decathlon event with third and fourth place totals. Cleckner grabbed two top marks, four second place honors and one third place finish en route to a 6,124 point total while Chitro picked up two first-place performances and three third-place billings for 5,882 points.
Cleckner notched his top honors in the 400-meter dash and 1,500-meter run with times of 52.09 and 4:37.35, respectively. His second place showings came in the high jump (1.81m), 100-meter dash (11.41), long jump (6.43m) and javelin throw (47.30m) while his third place finish came in the discus throw with a lob of 33.58m.
Chitro finished ahead of eight other competitors in the high jump with a first-place vault of 1.84m and a top mark in the discus throw of 35.92m. Chitro turned in a third-place time of 5:06.02 in the 1,500-meter run and a heave of 11.51m in the shot put.
Freshman Ieva Staponkute added to her second-place leap on Friday with the same finish in the triple jump. Staponkute surpassed the BIG EAST qualifying mark with a combination of 11.85m.
Sophomore Kwaku Boah hurled the hammer 39.39m for sixth place and the discus 35.13m for ninth place. On Friday, Boah knocked down second place with a toss of 14.39m in the shot put.
In the remaining four races the Orange competed in on day three, sophomore Flings Owusu-Agyapong came away with the best performance after hitting the NCAA Regional qualifying time on the nose in the 100-meter dash. Owusu-Agyapong finished in third place with a clip of 11.75, just 0.14 seconds behind Florida State's Danielle Jeffrey.
Second-year transfer Jarret Eaton eclipsed the IC4A mark in the men's 100-meter dash with a ninth-place effort of 10.81.
Freshman Matthew Callanan met IC4A criteria in the 110-meter hurdles with a seventh-place performance of 14.76 while senior Lauren McClenney rounded out the 800-meter run in 2:30.48 for 10th place.
The Orange is back in action at the two-day Princeton Sam Howell Invitational starting on Friday, April 3.
