Men’s track and field gains ground on women

Overshadowed the past couple years by its female counterpart, the Pitt men’s track and field… Overshadowed the past couple years by its female counterpart, the Pitt men’s track and field team has emerged this year as an equally competitive force and is now being recognized for its efforts. Prior to competing in last weekend’s Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup, the men’s program was named the 24th best track and field program in the country, according to Trackwire 25.

When Alonzo Webb took over as head coach of the Pitt track and field team, he vowed to put both the men and women’s teams on the national map. In only a few short years, the women’s team has accomplished that feat by winning back-to-back Big East Championships.

The men, on the other hand, progressed more slowly, but feel as though this year they can realistically compete for a title as well. Webb has stated that he would like to see the men finish in the top three at the Big East Championships, but it would not be out of the question for both teams to bring home the top prize.

Pitt’s final tune-up for the Championships came at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup in State College, Pa., this past weekend. The men justified their national ranking by performing well in all areas of track and field. They were led once again by their stars, hurdler Mike Wray and runner Sam Bair.

The two have dominated their respective events all season. Like the overall men’s program, the two were also recently recognized, but as Dandy Dozen performers. The Dandy Dozen lists the top 12 competitors in 17 events. Bair has been on the list all four weeks this season, earning his highest spot at No. 6 this week. Wray broke into the Dandy Dozen on Jan. 23 and has moved up to third.

At Penn State, Wray proved again why he is one of the nation’s top hurdlers by winning the 55-meter hurdle event with a time of 7.16. The time set the meet and facility record and also automatically qualified him for the NCAA championships in that event.

Bair’s contribution came in the men’s distance medley relay, a team that also took first place with a time of 9:41.13. The relay team consisted of Eric Fleming, Kareem Cousar, Tim Konoval and Bair.

Another top male performer was sophomore Sam Perkins who set a personal-best time in the 60 meters, placing fourth at 6.85. He also set a new career best in the 200 meters at 21.94, good enough for sixth place.

The consistently solid women’s team finished sixth overall and had several top finishers in sprints and hurdles.

As Wray and Bair have led the men throughout the course of the season, so have the Calhoun sisters, Shanea and Shantea, for the women. In the 60 meters, Shantea Calhoun placed third in the finals with a time of 7.52. Pitt then had three top-10 place-winners in the 200 meters. This group included Shanea Calhoun, who led the Pitt women with a time of 24.03 and a fourth-place finish. Shantea came in seventh at 24.20, and Raquel Bender placed ninth with a time of 24.54.

In the women’s version of the 55-meter hurdle event, Pitt had two finalists. Mycaiah Clemons placed fourth at 7.99 and Martina Hallman came in seventh with a time of 8.11.

Pitt’s middle distance runners were led by Selena Sappleton who finished third in the 600 meters with a time of 1:33.90.

The women had even more top-10 finishers in the jumping events. Kendall Butch tied her personal-best 1.65 meters in the high jump, which placed her seventh. Janessa Murphy finished 10th in the triple jump and third in the long jump at 5.80 meters. Hallman and freshman Shanae’ Thomas also finished in the top-10 of the long jump.

In the shot put, Kim Rorabaugh had a career-best 13.85 meters, which gave her 12th place. Stacey Bilan also set a personal-best in this event and finished 19th at 13.99 meters.

The Panthers will now prepare for the Big East Indoor Championships next weekend at Akron’s Indoor Facility, a venue at which they’ve already competed twice this season. The competition will run Friday through Sunday.