Heat halts Pitt track

The Pitt track team flew to Florida over the weekend to compete in the NCAA East Regional… The Pitt track team flew to Florida over the weekend to compete in the NCAA East Regional Championships, college track’s version of “win or go home.”

Unfortunately for the team, however, the Florida sunshine was one of the few bright spots in a weekend full of mild disappointments. Pitt did not automatically qualify an individual or relay team to the National Championships.

“I expected us to have better performances than we did this past weekend,” head coach Alonzo Webb said. “We are in one of the toughest regions in the country, but still did not perform like we are capable.”

Pitt took a solid mix of young and veteran athletes to Regionals but experienced first hand why the East Regional is one of the nation’s finest, if not the best overall. The men had three representatives competing: Sam Bair, Tim Konoval and Eric Jones. Bair was red-hot in the preliminaries of the 1,500 meters and finished fourth, which would have qualified him for nationals, had it been in the finals. To qualify for the NCAA Championships, a competitor has to place in the top five of his event or be on a top-three relay team.

Unfortunately for Bair, he went on to place ninth in the finals with a time of 3:44.85. Fellow 1,500-meter runner Konoval also advanced to the finals and finished 10th with a personal-best time of 3:45.41.

Pitt’s sole male field competitor, Eric Jones, placed 14th in the triple jump with a distance of 14.93 meters.

The women’s team was better represented but finished with similar results. The top performance came from the 400-meter relay team, consisting of Martina Hallman, Raquel Bender, Shanea Calhoun and Shantea Calhoun, which ran a time of 44.73 in the preliminaries for fifth place. They went on to finish fourth in the finals, just one spot shy of an automatic national bid.

The women had competitors in the 100- and 200-meter sprints. In the 100 meters, Raquel Bender ran a time of 11.87, good enough for 18th place. Sisters Shantea and Shanea Calhoun competed in the 200 meters, with Shantea finishing ninth in the preliminaries and Shanea finishing 13th.

In the 100-meter hurdle event, Mycaiah Clemons ran a time of 14.13 for 25th place. Senior star Julianna Reed competed in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 11th at 59.95.

The women also had two field athletes compete in the long jump. Hallman led the way with a 13th place finish with a distance of 5.96 meters, and Janessa Murphy placed 22nd at 5.76 meters.

The NCAA National Championships will be held June 7, in Sacramento, Calif.

Though the team did not receive any automatic bids, there is still a chance that the women’s 400-meter relay team and Bair, running in the 1,500 meters, could still be awarded an at-large bid. At-large bids will be announced later in the week.

For now, however, the 2007 outdoor track and field season appears to be over for the Panthers, although there is a slight chance that a few of Pitt’s athletes might compete in the U.S. Junior/Senior Championships which take place at the end of June in Indiana.

The abrupt end to the season left Webb feeling unfulfilled.

“Things just didn’t work out like we wanted, and we’re a little disappointed because we had the talent to do more,” he said. “But all we can do is look to how we can improve so that we are stronger next year.”

The athletes will be given the next month or so off until Webb mails them summer workouts that begin July 1. Even though the athletes will be given a break, their coach will not be taking any. Instead, Webb plans to head to Ohio and New York to scout high school track and field athletes at state championship meets.

“Recruiting is going pretty well, and we already have some athletes signed and committed and a few others with letters of intent,” he said.

Now that the season is over, most Pitt track athletes will be turning their attention to the upcoming cross-country season in the fall.