Track places at Big Easts

Six Pitt track and field athletes earned All-Big East honors over the weekend at the Big East… Six Pitt track and field athletes earned All-Big East honors over the weekend at the Big East Track and Field Championships in Storrs, Conn.

The men’s team placed 13th out of 14 teams competing. The women were fifth out of 16.

Male athletes Sam Bair and Eric Jones both finished third in their events – the 1,500-meter and the triple jump, respectively.

Bair, a 2006 All-American in the 1,500 meters, raced to a 3:50.58 finish. He was eight seconds off his career best but missed first place by just more than one second. Providence’s Max Smith took the event with a 3:49.03.

Jones leapt a personal-best 15.03 meters and finished nine spots higher than he placed in the 2006 Big East Track and Field Championships. The sophomore was edged out by Connecticut’s Daniel Hutcherson and event-winner Andre Black from Louisville.

Among the women, twins Shantea and Shanea Calhoun both earned all-conference honors in individual sprints. Julianna Reed placed second and Martina Hallman took third in the 400-meter hurdles to earn all-conference honors as well.

Shantea Calhoun finished second in the 200-meter sprint, racing to a 23.67. She missed first in that event by .08 seconds. The junior also took third in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.65 seconds. Connecticut’s Jessica Foreman won the event, sprinting 100 meters in just 11.5 seconds.

Shanea Calhoun missed her sister in the 200-meter sprint by .28 seconds and finished third. She also placed seventh in the 100 meters.

Reed won the 400-meter hurdles and took second in the final with a time of 59.7 seconds. Buky Bamigboye of Georgetown raced to first in 59.04 seconds.

Hallman placed third in the same event, eclipsing the one-minute mark at 1:00.86.

Senior Tim Konoval took fourth in the 1,500 meters. He placed .08 seconds behind Bair, was five seconds off his personal best and improved one slot from last year’s Big East Championships.

Andrew Tomaswick, a senior, finished 15th in the 5,000-meter long distance run. Villanova’s Robert Curtis won the event by two seconds, topping Georgetown’s duo of Fleet Hower and Levi Miller.

Junior A.J. Kielinski placed 11th in the hammer throw, tossing 52.06 meters. DePaul freshman Brad Millar won the hammer throw by hurling the ball 62.09 meters.

Matt Raquet threw the javelin 55.44 meters. The sophomore took eighth, missing first by six-plus meters. Louisville’s Arthur Turland hurled his javelin 61.61 meters.

Two men’s relay teams competed as well – one in the 1,600-meter relay, the other in 3,200.

The 1,600-meter team, featuring Kareem Cousar, Sidi Gueye, Mike Long and Sam Perkins, finished 13th with a time of 3:21.89. Seton Hall took the event.

Bair, Konoval, Eric Burnett and Brian Woods manned the 3,200-meter relay team. The quartet placed eighth, posting a 7:42.83. Villanova won the relay by two seconds, besting Notre Dame.

The men will compete next at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships at Princeton.

Freshman Patricia Anyanwu made the final of the 400-meter hurdles for the women, crossing the finish line in 1:02.73.

Mycaiah Clemons, a sophomore, nailed down a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Clemons sprinted to a time of 13.91 seconds.

Raquel Bender also raced in the 100-meter sprints, taking sixth in the finals. She had a time of 11.9 seconds.

Pitt fielded three teams in the women’s relays.

In the 400-meter relay, the Calhoun twins, Bender and Janessa Murphy finagled a fourth-place time of 45.77 seconds.

The Calhouns, Reed and Katelyn Brown tallied a 3:44.12 finish in the 1,600-meter relay to place fourth.

And Ali Briggs, Krystal Epps, Kari Hadderick and Selena Sappleton took eighth in the 3,200-meter relay with a group time of 9:11.02.

Hallman placed seventh in the triple jump, leaping 11.91 meters. Murphy landed 10th in the same event, jumping 11.42 meters.

Senior Kim Rorabaugh took ninth in the hammer throw, flipping the ball 50.83 meters.

In the high jump, freshman Kendall Butch took 10th and Kristin Johnson finished 14th.

Next up for the women are the ECAC Championships this weekend at Princeton.