Pitt continues to prepare for Big East championships

The Pitt track and field team faced off at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational this past… The Pitt track and field team faced off at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational this past weekend against UCLA, Texas, Tennessee and Michigan ‘- four of the top teams in the nation.

When the meet was over, several of Pitt’s performances stood out and were just short of standing out even more.

‘There was great competition,’ said Pitt coach Alonzo Webb. ‘Overall, it was a pretty solid meet for us. [But] we still have some things to work on.’

On the men’s side, junior distance runner Josh Christopher finished third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:43.57, which was less’ than five seconds out of first. The time broke his previous season best by more than 25 seconds. Junior Teddy Miller placed behind Christopher, finishing seventh.

Senior Eric Jones leapt 15.13 meters in the men’s triple jump to finish in second place, just one-hundredth of a meter shy of the winner, BYU’s Aaron Powell. Freshman Folarin Ijelu finished fifth.

‘They stood out in the jumps,’ said Webb.

But while the jumpers stood out, the men’s 4×400 team did the opposite. During the relay, the team was disqualified for interference and did not finish. During a handoff, a member of the team was bumped. He pushed another sprinter in an effort to brace his fall, causing the disqualification.

‘Indoors on the 4×4, [there] is a lot of bumping and shoving and pushing around,’ said Webb. ‘Those things happen indoors occasionally. It’s so tight, they’re running that fast, they’re trying to jockey for position.’

The women’s 4×400 relay team fared better, finishing fifth overall with a time of 3:48.10.

Freshman Caitlin Cocilova won her section in the women’s 500-meter run. Junior Patricia Anyanwu ran a 1:18.12 in her group but finished sixth. Seton Hall’s Clarrise Moh highlighted the event, breaking the meet record by nearly a second with a 1:12.04.

In the women’s 200-meter dash, sophomore Da’lynn Mills won her preliminary heat, though her 24.60 time left her just shy of qualifying for the finals.

Of Pitt’s field events participants, sophomore Sarah Anderson stood out, distancing 14.92 meters in women’s throw. She finished seventh in her flight.

Season bests were the story in the women’s 800-meter run. Freshman Susan Martinez ran a 2:17.48, and junior Kari Hedderick ran a 2:18.78. Hedderick finished third in her section, while Martinez finished sixth in a competitive grouping.

Two freshmen on the men’s side came close to topping their best collegiate times, as well. Dontave Cowsette ran a 1:57.96 in the 800-meter run, his season’s second best time. Greg Kareis finished within five seconds of his lowest time in the mile, placing seventh in his section. Kareis also competed in the 1000-meter run and finished fourth in his group.

‘We have a pretty young team, both the men’s and women’s side,’ said Webb. ‘I just wanted to get there, get a little of our nerves out and get some high level competition before we go into the [Big East] championship.’

Webb added that the meet acts as a warm-up for the Big East Indoor Track and Field Championships, which, like the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, takes place at the Armory Track ‘amp; Field Center in New York City.’

‘I wanted to give the athletes a chance to get on that facility and get acclimated to the facility,’ said Webb. ‘Just [to get] a sort of comfort for it when we go back in a couple weeks.’