Track and field rocks out weekend meets in Ohio

The Pitt men’s and women’s track teams did their best impression of a rock band this past… The Pitt men’s and women’s track teams did their best impression of a rock band this past weekend, minus the record label.

“We joked about it being the University of Pittsburgh track team on tour,” head coach Alonzo Webb said. “Having to go places day after day.”

Both teams competed on Friday and Saturday in two separate meets and in two separate locations — a rarity in the world of track. The Panthers competed at the University of Akron Friday night in the Skip Summersville Invitational, and on Saturday they traveled 16 miles down I-76 to Kent State for the Black Squirrel Invitational.

“We’re trying to prepare for the Big East Championships,” Webb said in reference to the two-day meet held in February. “We wanted to go and put ourselves in a position where we had to go back-to-back.”

Senior thrower Amanda Walker appears to be headed in the right direction on her way to the championships. Friday, she won the weight throw (18.21 meters) and shot put (15.66 meters). On Saturday, she again finished first in the shot put (15.51 meters) for her third victory of the weekend.

“[Walker’s] a large part of whatever success we do or don’t have,” Webb said. “She is a national-level athlete right now.”

Walker has already met the provisional qualifying standards for Nationals in both the weight throw and shot put.

The schedule wasn’t the only thing making coach Webb see double over the weekend. Freshmen twins Shantea and Shanea Calhoun each posted victories in the 60-meter dash. Shantea won Friday in a time of 7.66 seconds. Shanea was victorious on Saturday with a time only one-hundredth of a second slower than her sister’s. Shantea added her second victory of the weekend on Saturday, finishing first in the 200 (24.66 sec.)

“For them to win their first collegiate races was outstanding.” Webb said. “We had the No. 8 recruiting class in the country, so for them to start producing a little bit at the collegiate level is pretty exciting.”

The men’s team was paced on the track by a freshman of its own. Freshman Sam Bair took second in the mile (4:10.35) on Friday and beat out two of his own teammates for the victory in the 800 (1:53.13) on Saturday.

“We came one, two, three; just a few tenths from each other,” Bair said. “Jeryl [Wilborn] took it out for us for the first lap or so, and coming down the home stretch, we all came in together. It was me, then Jeryl and Tim [Konoval] finished behind him.”

Wilborn, the men’s senior captain, finished first in the 400 (49.41) the day before. The men totaled seven victories on the weekend to finish third out of four teams on Friday, and third out of three teams on Saturday.

The women finished second out of four teams on Friday and fourth out of four teams on Saturday, tallying 10 event wins on the weekend.

“We split the team up,” Webb said, explaining the team scores. “We didn’t have a full squad at either meet, and some of our best athletes didn’t compete in all of their best events. It looks bad on paper as far as the score goes but we got accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.”

The Panthers will have next weekend off, but will travel to State College, Pa., for the Penn State National Open on Jan. 28-29.