Syracuse University
NCAA East Region Championship
Heath Outlasts Eastern's Elite for Title
5/30/2009 9:40:52 PM | Track and Field
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior Kyle Heath became Syracuse's second NCAA Regional Champion after winning the steeplechase on Saturday with a time of 8:46.51. Heath beat 31 other competitors to qualify for his second consecutive NCAA Championship. Last year, Heath became Syracuse's first All-American distance runner since Jim O'Connell in 1983 after setting the school record in the steeplechase with a time of sixth-place time of 8:38.03 at the 2008 Division I Outdoor Track and Field NCAA Championship.
The Farmington, N.Y. native won the ECAC Championship two weeks ago in the same race and was named to the All-BIG EAST team after finishing in second place at the BIG EAST Outdoor Championship.
Heath joins Jillian Drouin as the only Orange to win an NCAA Regional event. Drouin won last year's high jump event with a mark of 1.84m. The NCAA Regional Championship began in 2003.
Three others contended in the steeplechase alongside Heath. Junior Curtis Bixler turned out a time of 9:09.43 for 11th place, while freshman Pat Dupont crossed the line 9:14.52 for 15th. Sophomore Michael Brocks came in 23rd place after finishing the steeplechase in 9:25.84.
Junior Lorraine Hill recorded here second longest javelin distance of the season (43.94m). She finished third in her heat and 10th overall.
Junior Uhunoma Osazuwa cleared 1.74m for seventh place in the high jump and participated in the 100-meter trial on Friday.
Sophomore Rebekah MacKay finished 12th in the women's steeplechase (10:36.84), while freshman Natalie Busby was 17th (10:50.68) and classmate Heather Stephens finished 22nd (10:56.05).
Heath and senior Bernard Bush will represent the Orange at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in Fayetteville, Ark. in two weeks starting on June 10.
Heath's win garnered 10 points and Bush's fifth-place performance posted four points for the men, while Osazuwa's seventh-place performance registered two points for the women. The men concluded the NCAA Regional in a tie for 15th place with Wake Forest, Princeton and Delaware State and the women tied for 45th with Georgia State, Dartmouth, Delaware and New Hampshire.
