Wednesday, June 8
Des Moines, Iowa
All Day
Syracuse University
vs
NCAA Outdoor Championship
BIG EAST heptathlon champion Kelsey Rubeor is ranked fifth in the nation heading into the NCAA Championships.
Photo by: Stephen Parker
Four Orange Take To National Stage
6/7/2011 10:31:21 AM | Track and Field
Complete Championship Schedule l Live Results
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The moment that each track and field student-athlete trains for all season is just around the corner. The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from June 8-11. Four members of the Orange will make the trip to the Midwest to compete against the nation's best in the sport.
It will mark the first appearance on the national stage for seniors Kelsey Rubeor, Katie Hursey and Flings Owusu-Agyapong and junior Tito Medrano. For Rubeor this will be her final collegiate meet. Hursey and Owusu-Agyapong each have one year of outdoor track and field eligibility remaining.
Kelsey Rubeor:
Rubeor, the BIG EAST heptathlon champion, was an automatic qualifier in the seven-event competition. She currently ranks fifth in the nation in the heptathlon. Her best performance of the season came at the BIG EAST Championships where she tallied a personal-best 5,680 points.
The first four events (100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m dash) will be contested on Thursday, June 9 beginning at 1 p.m. CT. The remaining three events (long jump, javelin and 800m run) will take place on Friday, June 10 starting at 4 p.m.
Katie Hursey:
Hursey will compete in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, where she ranks 17th in the nation. She qualified for the NCAA Championships with a fifth-place performance at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Of the 96 student-athletes to compete in the steeplechase at the east and west preliminary rounds, Hursey was one of 24 to advance. Her career-best performance came at the east prelims where she clocked a school record time of 10:08.44.
The steeplechase is set to kickoff on Thursday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m. CT with the top eight advancing to the finals on Saturday, June 11 at 12:54 p.m. CT.
"This is really exciting for me," said Hursey.
"I will be running on my birthday and that is a really cool birthday present for me. This has been my goal throughout my career, so to qualify this year is amazing. Everyone has been so supportive which is really neat. My teammates have been coming to workouts to help me train and having that support system is great. This was the first season where going into regionals I didn't feel like it was my last race. As a team we went into it feeling strong and not tired which was great for us."
Flings Owusu-Agyapong:
Owusu-Agyapong will represent the Orange in the 100 meter dash. Her best performance of the season came at the BIG EAST Championships where she ran a time of 11.55 to earn All-BIG EAST honors. She was one of 96 student-athletes to advance from the national first round into the quarterfinals and then to the semifinals. The semifinals are slated to start on Wednesday, June 8 at 7:15 p.m. CT. The top eight will advance to the finals on Friday, June 10 at 6:55 p.m. CT.
"It means a lot to qualify and I'm really excited," said Owusu-Agyapong.
"Going into regionals I wasn't sure where I stood among the other girls so this is really exciting for me. When I qualified at regionals it was one of the only times in my career where I've felt like jumping up and down. It was a really big moment for me. I've been doing a much better job of not putting pressure on myself. I know that if I focus on myself and focus on my runs that everything will go smoothly. I just want to go in and take it one race at a time."
Tito Medrano:
After winning his second consecutive BIG EAST Championship in the 10,000 meter run, Medrano went on to place fifth out of 48 runners at the NCAA East Preliminarys and claim one of 24 total spots in the finals in Des Moines. His career-best time of 29:10.01 came at the east prelims. The finals will be contested on Thursday, June 9 at 8:50 p.m. CT.
"This is a big deal," said Medrano.
"It's so cut and dry and there are so many talented people trying to qualify, so for us to make it means a lot because we've worked so hard all season. This is what we wanted to do and to me this means a lot. Qualifying is not all we want to do though. We want to perform well while we're there. After winning BIG EAST and running well at the regional everything has been clicking and my confidence is real high."
Television broadcast schedule:
Friday, June 10, 6:30pm – 8:30pm CT, CBS Sports Network (cable)
Saturday, June 11, 12:00pm – 2:00pm CT, CBS
The entire NCAA Championships will be streamed live online at NCAA.com and feature two separate streams to cover the majority of the action both on the track and in the field.
Click here for ticket information via GoDrankBulldogs.com.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The moment that each track and field student-athlete trains for all season is just around the corner. The 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be hosted by Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from June 8-11. Four members of the Orange will make the trip to the Midwest to compete against the nation's best in the sport.
It will mark the first appearance on the national stage for seniors Kelsey Rubeor, Katie Hursey and Flings Owusu-Agyapong and junior Tito Medrano. For Rubeor this will be her final collegiate meet. Hursey and Owusu-Agyapong each have one year of outdoor track and field eligibility remaining.
Kelsey Rubeor:
Rubeor, the BIG EAST heptathlon champion, was an automatic qualifier in the seven-event competition. She currently ranks fifth in the nation in the heptathlon. Her best performance of the season came at the BIG EAST Championships where she tallied a personal-best 5,680 points.
The first four events (100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m dash) will be contested on Thursday, June 9 beginning at 1 p.m. CT. The remaining three events (long jump, javelin and 800m run) will take place on Friday, June 10 starting at 4 p.m.
Katie Hursey:
Hursey will compete in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, where she ranks 17th in the nation. She qualified for the NCAA Championships with a fifth-place performance at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Of the 96 student-athletes to compete in the steeplechase at the east and west preliminary rounds, Hursey was one of 24 to advance. Her career-best performance came at the east prelims where she clocked a school record time of 10:08.44.
The steeplechase is set to kickoff on Thursday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m. CT with the top eight advancing to the finals on Saturday, June 11 at 12:54 p.m. CT.
"This is really exciting for me," said Hursey.
"I will be running on my birthday and that is a really cool birthday present for me. This has been my goal throughout my career, so to qualify this year is amazing. Everyone has been so supportive which is really neat. My teammates have been coming to workouts to help me train and having that support system is great. This was the first season where going into regionals I didn't feel like it was my last race. As a team we went into it feeling strong and not tired which was great for us."
Flings Owusu-Agyapong:
Owusu-Agyapong will represent the Orange in the 100 meter dash. Her best performance of the season came at the BIG EAST Championships where she ran a time of 11.55 to earn All-BIG EAST honors. She was one of 96 student-athletes to advance from the national first round into the quarterfinals and then to the semifinals. The semifinals are slated to start on Wednesday, June 8 at 7:15 p.m. CT. The top eight will advance to the finals on Friday, June 10 at 6:55 p.m. CT.
"It means a lot to qualify and I'm really excited," said Owusu-Agyapong.
"Going into regionals I wasn't sure where I stood among the other girls so this is really exciting for me. When I qualified at regionals it was one of the only times in my career where I've felt like jumping up and down. It was a really big moment for me. I've been doing a much better job of not putting pressure on myself. I know that if I focus on myself and focus on my runs that everything will go smoothly. I just want to go in and take it one race at a time."
Tito Medrano:
After winning his second consecutive BIG EAST Championship in the 10,000 meter run, Medrano went on to place fifth out of 48 runners at the NCAA East Preliminarys and claim one of 24 total spots in the finals in Des Moines. His career-best time of 29:10.01 came at the east prelims. The finals will be contested on Thursday, June 9 at 8:50 p.m. CT.
"This is a big deal," said Medrano.
"It's so cut and dry and there are so many talented people trying to qualify, so for us to make it means a lot because we've worked so hard all season. This is what we wanted to do and to me this means a lot. Qualifying is not all we want to do though. We want to perform well while we're there. After winning BIG EAST and running well at the regional everything has been clicking and my confidence is real high."
Television broadcast schedule:
Friday, June 10, 6:30pm – 8:30pm CT, CBS Sports Network (cable)
Saturday, June 11, 12:00pm – 2:00pm CT, CBS
The entire NCAA Championships will be streamed live online at NCAA.com and feature two separate streams to cover the majority of the action both on the track and in the field.
Click here for ticket information via GoDrankBulldogs.com.
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