Sea Ray Relays hampered by weather

If you are sick and tired of the wintry spring we are having, you are not alone. The… If you are sick and tired of the wintry spring we are having, you are not alone. The miserable weather has been wreaking havoc on all outdoor sports activities across the country, delaying some games and canceling others completely.

The conditions are also greatly disrupting the college outdoor track and field season, which hasn’t experienced a reasonably nice weekend since it began.

Pitt head coach Alonzo Webb fully expects this kind of weather in Pittsburgh, and for that reason, schedules the vast majority of the early meets in the south. What he doesn’t count on is equally ugly weather down there.

At last weekend’s Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn., freezing rain canceled a portion of the meet’s events, the same predicament Pitt found itself in at the Texas Relays one week earlier.

“The weather has definitely put us behind where we want to be and where we expect to be, but it has also put other teams behind as well,” Webb said. “There are a lot of nervous coaches and athletes out there right now trying to meet difficult regional qualifying times, but the weather is not permitting it. By this point in the season, you expect many top athletes to have already qualified for the regionals, but that is not the case this year.”

Although the elements proved to be a formidable foe at the Sea Ray Relays, it was not the only obstacle. The meet boasted more than 100 teams and even some individual runners, making it one of the largest competitions in the country.

Still, the men got their first regional-qualifying performance this weekend as senior Tim Konoval placed second in the 1,500 meters with a personal best time of 3:44.24.

“Tim ran a very solid race in the rain and actually got a personal best,” Webb said.

Fellow 1,500-meter star Sam Bair was also well on his way to a personal best when according to Webb, he was tripped as he headed down the home stretch. The person who tripped him was eventually disqualified, but Bair was not able to finish.

The Pitt men entered two sprinters in the meet. Sam Perkins finished 20th in the 100-meters with a time of 10.80, and Kareem Cousar took 26th in the 400 meters at 48.95.

In the field, A.J. Kielinski placed 20th in the hammer throw, and Eric Jones finished 15th in the triple jump at 14.52 meters.

“Eric had his best jump since early in the indoor season at this meet,” Webb stated.

The distance runners fared slightly better, each turning in career-best times. Seniors Steve Gonzalez and Andy Tomaswick finished in 19th and sixth places respectively in the 10,000-meter event.

Tomaswick’s time of 30:23.31 was one of the team’s top performances, even though the final had to be cancelled because of the weather.

“The distance runners are usually the least affected by rain because of the length of their races,” Webb said. “In fact, sometimes it can actually cool them down, and I think that’s why we had so many personal records.”

In addition to Gonzalez and Tomaswick, Webb was also referring to fellow senior Suzy Bossart’s personal-best time of 37:32.03, also in the 10,000-meters.

The women were led once again by the ever-steady senior Julianna Reed, who qualified yet again in the 400-meter hurdles by finishing seventh.

She is the current school record holder in that event. Prior to the meet, it was announced the Reed’s performance at the Asics Liberty Invitational, in addition to her four regional qualifying times, catapulted her in the top-25 national rankings in the 400-meter hurdles.

In the 100-meter event, Shantea Calhoun was the first Panther to finish and did so in a time of 11.91, good enough for sixth place.

Raquel Bender came in one second later for seventh place. Following them were Janessa Murphy (20th) and Shanea Calhoun (27th).

The Pitt women also received four additional personal bests.

Kari Hedderick got hers by coming in 18th in the 400 meters with a time of 56.03. In the 800 meters, both Krystal Epps and Milissa Vignetti landed personal bests, finishing with times of 2:19.07 and 2:23.19, respectively. Ali Briggs also got her career best time of 4:41.77 in the 1,500-meter event.

In the field, freshman Kendall Butch took 10th in the high jump with a height of 1.65 meters, while Janessa Murphy placed 19th in the triple jump with a distance of 11.60 meters.

The women also raced three relay teams.

In what Coach Webb stated was their “fastest finish all season,” the 400-meter relay team placed sixth with a time of 46.00. That squad consisted of Shanea Calhoun, Raquel Bender, Janessa Murphy and Shantea Calhoun.

The 800-meter relay team took fourth with a time of 1:37.31. That group consisted of the Calhoun twins, Bender and Mycaiah Clemons.

Coach Webb was most impressed by the performance of the last group, the shuttle hurdle relay team, which consisted of Clemons, Martina Hallman, Brianna Broyles and Julianna Reed. The team finished second overall with a time of 58.76.

Because of the horrible conditions, not all athletes who made the trip competed in the Sea Rays.

“They canceled half of Saturday’s events, so many people didn’t get to compete,” Webb said. “Our steeplechase runners, Mike Long and Nicki Angstadt, didn’t compete at all, nor did our long jumpers. The Calhouns also were not able to compete in the 200 meters, which is unfortunate because they were hoping to hit the qualifying time at this meet.”

Webb sounded understandably frustrated when describing the trouble the weather has caused.

“We just have not had much luck lately,” he said. “This is the second straight meet where a portion of the meet was cancelled due to weather, so performances were not good across the board.”

Even those Pitt athletes not competing at the Sea Ray Relays experienced bad weather as they were snowed out in their meet at Slippery Rock.

When asked what a coach can do in a situation like this, Webb responded, “First thing we do is pray for good weather,” he joked. “Then you have to try to get your players to be very focused on the next meet because there is not much time to work with, you take care of the things you can control.”

The Panthers were originally scheduled to compete at Penn State this weekend, but the meet was canceled at the last minute. That means the team is likely headed instead to Morgan State University’s Legacy Meet in Baltimore, Md.