Track improves at Big East Championship

Improvement was the name of the game for the men and women of Pitt’s track team, competing… Improvement was the name of the game for the men and women of Pitt’s track team, competing at this year’s Big East Championships in Storrs, Conn.

Both teams improved their results from a year ago, as the men jumped from 12th last year to eighth this year with 44.5 points, and the women placed third with 94 points, as opposed to last year’s eighth-place finish.

Sophomore Tamara McGill won the Most Outstanding Field Performer of the Year award after she won the heptathlon with 5,240 points, breaking the conference record. McGill’s achievement marked the first time any Panther received this award since 1999.

Three additional Panther women took home first place in other events. Elizabeth Bayne won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.57 seconds, while Melanie Carter won the triple jump with a leap of 13.07 meters.

Marissa Dudek won the pole vault, setting a new school record in the processwith 3.80 meters. Four outdoor individual champions is the most for Pitt since 1998.

While the men did not have any first place finishers, Shawndel Daniel and Shawn Paronish each had solid performances. Daniel placed third in the long jump with 7.47 meters and Paronish finished third in the javelin with a throw of 63.20 meters.

Head coach Alonzo Webb said he thought the team performed very well.

“They did better than most people expected,” Webb said. “They have a lot of potential, but leading up to the Big East Championships, it didn’t seem that way.”

Looking back on the season, Webb said that he thought his team “came a long way in a short time.”

“We took huge steps in the direction the program should go,” he added. “We have a young team with a solid nucleus to build on.”

That team looks to get better next season as the Panthers have signed 15 new recruits for next year’s team and, on paper, it looks like a very good recruiting class.

“We’re excited,” Webb said, “We want to build on this year’s accomplishments by finishing up this season strong.”

The Panthers have almost everyone coming back next year and a lot to look forward to. The team travels to Princeton, N.J. on May 15 for the Eastern College Atlantic Conference Championships.