Women's Track: Weather Delays NCAAs
June 10, 2004 11:52 AM | General
June 10, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas – Heavy rain and lightning delayed the start of the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships taking place at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
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| Poor weather wiped out most of the competition Wednesday. (Track Shark.com photo) |
“The weather has been disgusting,” said West Virginia University coach Jeff Huntoon.
Fans were forced to evacuate the facility several times due to heavy lightning causing most of the events to either be canceled or pushed back a day.
Consequently, West Virginia University’s Jessica Czaikowski and Jennifer Kemp will compete in the semifinals Thursday evening. Czaikowski will run the 100-meter hurdle semifinals at 6:30 pm central time while Kemp’s 800-meter event immediately follows at 6:45 pm.
Tara Struyk, competing in the 10,000, will run the finals Thursday night at 9:55 pm.
Both Czaikowski and Kemp can advance to the finals on Friday with good races today.
“Because the weather was so bad they just canceled the prelims and made it a one-shot deal to qualify for finals,” said Huntoon. “I believe the heat winners and the next five fastest times will qualify for finals. Conceivably six of the nine spots could come from one heat if it is a very fast race.”
Huntoon says it was sunny yesterday morning before the bad weather arrived early in the afternoon.
“We went through our normal routine and arrived at the track at about 3:30,” he said. “Jen was about 20 minutes away from running her race and had just completed her warm-ups when the lightning started. They evacuated the track and the competitors basically just sat around trying to wait out the storm.
“We waited for about the first hour of it before we decided to go back to the hotel. Later they canceled the rest of the races,” he added.
Huntoon believes the delay could work in the favor of his runners, “I think this affects the favorites a little more,” he said. “Instead of say Jen and Jessica having to run two great races to get to the finals, now all they have to do is put it on the line today and run one great race.”
The top eight finishers earn All-America honors. West Virginia’s last outdoor All-American was Megan Metcalfe in the 1,500 during the 2002 season.
Huntoon says his team will stick to their same routine today.
