Five Panthers qualify for track and field NCAAs

Having exceeded almost everyone’s expectations and earned Pitt national recognition as one of… Having exceeded almost everyone’s expectations and earned Pitt national recognition as one of the top track programs in the country, the men and women’s teams had every reason to be confident heading into this past weekend’s 2005 NCAA East Regional Track and Field Championships.

Lamentably, there will be some unforeseen vacancies at “Hotel California” for the NCAA Outdoor Championships held in Sacramento, Calif.

Despite sending several athletes to compete in the NCAA East Regionals, few Panthers were able to earn a spot at the National Championships held on June 8-11, leaving the team unusually underrepresented. The team sent 20 athletes to the Regionals hosted by Manhattan College, but only five of the 20 automatically qualified to move on. This ratio may seem disappointing, but head coach Alonzo Webb gave no indication of his frustration.

“The only thing I was remotely disappointed at was that our women’s 4×100-meter relay team was unable to finish in the top three, something I thought they were capable of doing,” said Webb. “Aside from that, our team performed extremely well. The men finished in eighthout of 112 teams, whereas last year they were .not even in the top 50, a tremendous improvement. The women finished in 15th, moving up about 21 places from last year, building upon what has been an incredibly successful season.”

Of the 12 women who competed at Regionals, only Amanda Walker and Tamara McGill earned an automatic spot in the national championship meet. However, Webb was confident that Julianna Reed in the 400-meter hurdles and the women’s 4×100-meter relay team would additionally qualify off the descending order list.

“Our 4×100-meter relay team ran fast enough to place automatically, but they didn’t execute their hand-offs well enough, which ultimately slowed us down,” said Webb. “Regardless, the relay team along with Julianna should both still make it to nationals when the additional lists are made official today.”

Senior All-American Amanda Walker will be heading back to nationals, thanks to her sixth-place finish in the hammer throw. In her career at Pitt, Walker has set school records for the hammer throw, discus and both indoor and outdoor shot put. Joining her will be another senior, Tamara McGill, who will represent the Panthers in the women’s heptathlon. McGill is currently ranked 14th in the country in that event.

Eight men also competed at the Regionals, and three of them will move on to the national championship meet.

“With all of the success that our women have had this year I was a little bit surprised that more men automatically qualified for nationals than women,” stated Webb.

The men were led by sophomore Justin Clickett, who achieved All-American status during the past indoor track and field season with a throw of 19.05 meters at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. He advances to nationals thanks to a fifth-place finish in the shot put. Junior Anthony Bonura punched his ticket to California in the javelin event, finishing third overall. Joining them at nationals will be freshman British sensation Keith Higham, who earned second place overall in the pole vault event. Higham was this season’s Big East Outdoor Champion in the pole vault.

With the exception of the athletes headed for California, the 2005 track season comes to a close on what has been one of the most successful male and female campaigns in recent history.