Syracuse University
ECAC/IC4A Outdoor Championship
ECAC/IC4A Preview: Sprints / Hurdles
5/13/2009 8:38:14 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.
Sprints
LeBlanc headlines the sprinting efforts as an IC4A indoor champion. LeBlanc set the IC4A 55-meter dash record as a sophomore with a mark of 6.21 in 2007. This indoor season, he took home third place in the same race at the IC4A Indoor Championship with a time of 6.32. The Riverview, New Brunswick native owns this season's fastest 100-meter mark of 10.60 (First place – UNC Invite) and will vie for his first IC4A outdoor title. He received all-conference honors for his third-place finish at the 2009 BIG EAST Outdoor Championship (10.66).
Joining LeBlanc in the 100-meter dash will be junior Antoine Clark and sophomores Sham Lewis and Jarret Eaton. The Orange quartet will also team up for a crack at the 4 x 100-meter relay title starting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Recent graduates Skyy Simmons and Terry Marshall will take on all challengers in the 200-meter dash as the two recorded qualifying times of 21.66 and 21.70, in that order, for a spot on the line. Simmons also made the grade for the 400-meter dash and placed fourth at the conference championship with an IC4A-qualifying mark of 47.58 two weekends ago.
Three women will represent the Orange sprinting team. Owusu-Agyapong took home third at the BIG EAST Championship with an NCAA Regional-qualifying time of 11.82 in the 100-meter dash. The Toronto native will also take part in the 200-meter dash after a run of 24.58 at UNC entitled her to a second race this weekend. Joining Owusu-Agyapong is sophomore Lareea Chisholm and her first-place, ECAC –qualifying time of 24.54 in the 200-meter at Cornell three weekends ago.
Senior Lauren McClenney touched upon ECAC standards in the 400-meter twice this season, including a fourth-place finish of 55.66 at SU's second trip to Princeton on April 17.
Hurdles
In regards to the 110-meter hurdles, Eaton and Marshall both experienced success on the Weaver Outdoor Track in mid-April with respective second- and third-place performances of 13.99 and 14.29. Both qualified for the NCAA Regionals with those marks and will compete with newcomer Matthew Callanan after his seventh-place run of 14.76 at the opening weekend in Tallahassee, Fla.
Osazuwa will be Syracuse's lone female representative in the 100-meter hurdles. The 2009 BIG EAST heptathlon champ warranted a chance after she won this race at Princeton on April 17 with an NCAA Regional-qualifying mark of 13.85.
