 (1).png)
Syracuse University
ECAC/IC4A Outdoor Championship
ECAC/IC4A Preview: Distance
5/12/2009 9:14:33 AM | Track and Field
Men's Outdoor Results | Women's Outdoor Results
Complete Orange List of Postseason Qualifiers
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Orange track & field squad had this past weekend to rest up and prime itself for the ECAC/IC4A Outdoor Championship starting on Friday, May 15 through Sunday, May 17. The three-day competition is hosted by Princeton University at the Weaver Outdoor Track & Field Stadium, marking the third time SU will pay a visit to the Ivy League campus this season.
Syracuse last contended at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship where the men finished ninth and the women took 12th. The Orange boasted six all-conference performers, including SU's third-consecutive heptathlon champion in junior Uhunoma Osazuwa. Seniors Michael LeBlanc, Kyle Heath, and Bernard Bush joined sophomores Catherine DeSarle and Flings Owusu-Agyapong to round out the Orange All-BIG EAST contingent.
Head coach Chris Fox leads 15 men and 13 women in 20 different events to vie for the ECAC/IC4A title this weekend. Last year, graduate Ramon Sosa and Heath captured the 110-meter hurdles and steeplechase crowns, respectively, at the 2008 Championship.
Distance
Syracuse looks to score big points in the distance portion of the competition as Heath hunts for his second-consecutive steeplechase crown. As it stands in the collegiate ranks, Heath owns the fourth-fastest steeplechase time in the country with a clip of 8:40.89. The Farmington, N.Y. native collected All-BIG EAST laurels in the steeplechase after his second-place showing of 8:44.86 two weeks ago. He set the school record at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championship to the tune of 8:38.03. Heath won this contest last year with a time of 8:50.82.
SU's three others classes will don the Orange in the steeplechase as junior Curtis Bixler, sophomore Michael Brocks and freshman Pat Dupont all hit IC4A criterion this year. Bixler picked up fourth place at the conference championship with a time of 9:02.63 and Brocks broke out for a sixth-place run of 9:05.40; both of NCAA Regional standards. Dupont qualified with a second-place jaunt at the Penn Relays in 9:07.59.
All four SU women who qualified for the steeplechase turned the trick on the very same track they will run on this weekend. The women are led by school-record holder, freshman Natalie Busby. Busby's new standard of 10:33.45 was good for second place while sophomore Rebekah MacKay turned in a time of 10:36.04 for third. First-year harrier Heather Stephens claimed seventh in 10:39.77 while junior Stefanie Slekis crossed the line in 10:53.05 for 12th.
In the 1,500-meter run, sophomores Catherine DeSarle and Katie Hursey look to improve upon their times the last time they were at Princeton. DeSarle turned out SU's fastest time this season of 4:29.76 at Weaver while Hursey qualified with a time of 4:31.38. Both women will join Stephens and MacKay in the 5K as DeSarle broke the school record at Stanford with a time of 16:44.61. DeSarle opted to run in the 10,000-meter challenge at the BIG EAST Championship and came away with all-conference success after a third-place clip of 35:43.90.
Heath and Bixler complement freshman Griff Graves and sophomore Steve Weeks as a formidable group to lead the pack in the men's 5,000-meter run.
The competition starts up at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, May 15 with the first events of the Decathlon.
