Track and Field: Seven Panthers prepare for regionals

While the season has ended for the Pitt men’s and women’s track and field teams, seven… While the season has ended for the Pitt men’s and women’s track and field teams, seven individuals are still competing.

Five members of the women’s team and two members of the men’s team qualified for this weekend’s NCAA Regionals in Greensboro, N.C. The runners qualified for the event at past meets this season — most at either the Big East Outdoor Championships or IC4A/ECAC Championships held earlier in the month.

Three of the female runners are competing in various hurdle races. Mycaiah Clemons qualified in the 200-meter hurdles by winning the Big East title with a time of 13.59 seconds, and also placed fourth in the 400-meter hurdles. Joining her in the 400 is Brianna Broyles, who finished eighth at the Big East Championships. Cambrya Jones earned all-Big East honors with her second-place finish in the 200-meter dash to seal her place at the regionals.

Joining the runners from the field side are Janessa Murphy and Nicole Cherry. Murphy finished second in the long jump at the ECAC Championships with a leap of 6.02 meters to qualify. Cherry competes in the javelin after qualifying for the event with a throw of 47.69 meters.

For the men, Antony Hobwana’s 100-meter dash a time of 10.51 seconds makes him the only runner to qualify for regionals. Also from the men’s team is Eric Jones, who made it in the triple jump with a leap of 15.02 meters.

Pitt coach Alonzo Webb said preparation for the events is centered around tapering the workouts so they are significantly shorter than usual but simultaneously more grueling.

“We decrease the volume of everything and increase the intensity a little bit,” Webb said. “We give them a little more rest and basically go on how they feel.”

Being that it’s late in the season and most runners are already home for the summer, some of the athletes’ bodies may start to break down, Webb said. Thus, the coaches try to accommodate each individual athlete on how she feels.

“If one of the athletes feels like they need to take a day off or cut back on something, they’re able to do that if they need to,” Webb said.

If any Panthers perform well enough this weekend, their season can continue in the NCAA Outdoor Championships held June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. To qualify automatically, the competitor must finish in the top five. If someone finishes in the top 12, he can also qualify if he has a better score in that event from a previous meet than the other top 12 finalists.