Syracuse University
NCAA Outdoor Championship
Osazuwa Joins Heath and Bush at NCAAs
6/2/2009 4:09:34 PM | Track and Field
Complete NCAA Championship Schedule (June 10-13)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Junior heptathlete Uhunoma Osazuwa will join teammates Kyle Heath and Bernard Bush as the third Orange student-athlete to participate at the 2009 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championship at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
In the latest chart released by the NCAA track & field committee, Osazuwa's point total of 5,258 in the heptathlon put her in an elite class to vie for the national championship. The Las Vegas native will contend against 25 other competitors. She has won three heptathlon events this year, including two postseason victories at the ECAC Championship (5,258) and BIG EAST Championship (5,236). Her first victory of the season came at the Florida State Relays with an aggregate of 4,797 points.
Through her heptathlon trials this year, the ECAC and BIG EAST champ made the grade to compete in the 100-meter hurdles and high jump at the NCAA Regionals last week. In the high jump, Osazuwa posted her second-best mark of 1.74m for seventh and was timed in 14.14 during the preliminary heat of the 100-meter hurdles in Greensboro, N.C.
Heath, who became Syracuse's second-ever NCAA Regional champion after winning the steeplechase (8:46.51), boasts the fastest clip of the Eastern Region and fourth fastest in the county after his time of 8:40.89 at Stanford. Heath also emerged victoriously at the IC4A Championship to the tune of 8:42.38. The Farmington, N.Y. native touched upon NCAA standards in all five of the races he competed in and will partake in his second straight national championship.
At the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championship, Heath became SU'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.
Bush passed into the national spotlight after placing top five in the long jump at the NCAA Regional. The Tacoma, Wash. Native cleared 7.38m in strong headwinds at the Irwin Belk Track at North Carolina A & T State for fifth place. Two weeks prior, Bush hit a personal best of 7.50m for third place at the IC4A Championship.
Bush will initiate the Orange efforts in the long jump trials on Wednesday, June 10 at 4:00 p.m.
