Track ends on sour note

They were right where they wanted to be.

Sam Bair and the women’s 4×100-meter-relay team… They were right where they wanted to be.

Sam Bair and the women’s 4×100-meter-relay team – after nearly missing automatic bids to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships – were in Sacramento, Calif., over the weekend for the national championship as at-large bids.

Both Bair and the relay team were hoping to capitalize on the second chances that they were awarded, but things just didn’t go their way.

“This year in particular, it seemed as if the competition was at a higher level than usual,” Pitt head coach Alonzo Webb said of the quality of the athletes at the NCAA meet. “Even still, you have to expect that kind of competition at the national championships.”

Bair is one of the most decorated runners to ever compete at Pitt. He holds multiple school and Big East Conference indoor and outdoor track and cross country records. Additionally, Bair is an All-American who broke the school record in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:42.36 earlier this year and ranked 14th in that event entering the NCAA Championships. Maybe that is why his 21st-place finish over the weekend was so shocking.

“Sam basically just ran out of gas due to the strain of a long season,” Webb said. “There was also a lot of pressure on him recently to run a sub-four-minute mile, and that added stress might have gotten to him. Yet even on his best day, he probably would have had a little trouble this year because for some reason the times were just incredible this weekend. It just wasn’t to be.”

Bair finished 10th in his heat in the 1,500 meters on the second day of the championships with a time of 3:47.25, which placed 21st overall.

Bair was not satisfied. But the junior offered no excuses for his performance and is only hungrier to achieve his personal goals next year.

Although Webb had commented earlier that he felt that the overall competition at this year’s championship meet was superior to years past, he also noted that this was not the case for the women’s 4×100-meter relay.

“We thought we had a great opportunity to make the finals even though on paper it didn’t look that way since we were starting in 15th,” Webb said. “We ran well but had very poor handoffs, which slowed us down. I don’t know if it was nerves or youth, but we would have fared much better if we had had cleaner handoffs.”

The women’s 4×100-meter-relay team came on strong late in the season despite only having raced as a single unit twice before nationals. The team felt it had the talent to be near the top.

The relay team of junior Martina Hallman, sophomore Raquel Bender and junior sisters Shanea and Shantea Calhoun finished fourth in the first heat of the relay on the opening day of the championships. Their time of 45.55 was good enough for a 16th overall finish in the event.

“The women knew they missed a great opportunity and already are talking about next year, they can’t wait to be back here,” Webb stated. “They know that with another year of experience, they will be able to compete with the nation’s best, and Sam feels similarly heading into his senior year.”

The national championships officially ended the 2007 season for the Pitt track and field teams.

Webb will continue to make his recruiting rounds while Bair and the women’s relay team take a break.

For Bair, however, it will be a short one, as he begins workouts in early July for the cross country season in the fall.

Those track athletes not participating in cross country will not have formal conditioning again until school begins in August.