Track and field opens with Blue and Gold Meet

For the coaching staff of Pitt’s indoor track and field team, the preparations leading up… For the coaching staff of Pitt’s indoor track and field team, the preparations leading up to the Blue and Gold meet were very extensive because of the daunting task of setting equal teams for the competition.

“We tried to balance the teams as much as possible, and after a three hour total staff effort we felt the teams were very close,” head coach Alonzo Webb said. “When we projected the score of the meet we had the meet ending in a 97-97 tie.”

However, in the ensuing competitions, the athletes had other plans, as each team prepared to do battle against their own teammates in hopes of coming out victorious. As the teams were introduced, they were lined up facing each other on opposite sides as friendly words of ribbing were exchanged prior to the singing of the national anthem.

Afterward, the teams went their separate ways and prepared for their events as the coaches offered last-minute words of advice.

It was the track teams’ turn first as Fitzgerald Field House hosted all the running events on the indoor track Wednesday evening, while several other venues around campus hosted the field events Thursday afternoon.

In the evening session on the track, the competition tilted toward the Blue squad very quickly as it grabbed the early lead. The Blue squad lead continued to grow on the track, as various upsets and meet record-breaking performances would become the norm of the contest.

The Gold squad refused to go quietly, picking up several key second and third place points behind the Blue victories. Most of the races on the track featured one or two representatives from Blue in the distance races while Gold’s strategy of stacking the distance and middle distance races seemed to backfire some as the Blue squad recorded almost all of the victories on the track.

In one of the more memorable races on the track, Troy Roberson and Anthony Pelham made the 500-meter race a tight one as Roberson narrowly edged out Pelham for the Blue victory in the 500-meter run as well as a new Blue and Gold Meet record in a time of 1 minute, 5 and three-tenths seconds.

After the dust settled in Fitzgerald, the Blue squad held the lead over the Gold squad by a score of 75-51 heading into the decisive field events that would come the next day.

The field events would be the deciding points in the meet and each team was prepared to make the clutch performance to give their team the win. The Gold squad was looking to make up ground to have a chance of pulling out a victory, while the Blue squad wanted to continue its previous day’s successes.

In the women’s shot put, sophomore Amanda Walker launched a throw of 50 feet, 9 1/2 inches, which is an NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the event. The Gold team used the shot put as a springboard event, recording 12 of the 18 possible points in the event.

However, with the Blue squad recording victories in the women’s triple jump, women’s high jump, men’s long jump, men’s pole vault and the men’s javelin, the meet was under control by the Blue squad.

As the last event finished in the basement of Trees Hall, the Blue squad learned it defeated the Gold squad for the second consecutive year, this time by a score of 128.5 to 99.5.

“We’re looking forward to this season because the team is very excited and dedicated,” Webb said. “The team as a whole is very close and the bonded atmosphere is a very good thing.”

The meet as a whole was very successful for both teams as it featured 12 different qualifying times for the Big East Championships, the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships and the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America Championships.

“All of the coaches were very excited and saw a lot of good things,” Webb added. “We have a plan in place for the season, and now we have a better idea of what the capabilities of our athletes are so that we can now train them more specifically.”

The Panthers will continue their indoor season at the Golden Flash Gala at Kent State University Dec. 6 and 7.