Big East Preview
February 18, 2009 01:44 PM | General
February 18, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s performance at this weekend’s Big East indoor track and field championships will be determined by how Coach Sean Cleary chooses to run his nationally ranked distance medley relay team.
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| Sophomore Chelsea Carrier is ranked 11th in the country in the pentathlon.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
If he opts to load up and use his top runners to improve the relay's national ranking heading into indoor nationals next month that will impact his lineup for the remainder of the weekend.
If he selects to run a ‘B’ team this weekend then the DMR only has just more opportunity to improve its national standing, which right now is very close to the qualifying cutoff at 12th. West Virginia has qualified a DMR team in nine of the last 11 indoor national races.
“Only 12 teams basically qualify per year and this is the fastest time we have ever run during the season,” said Cleary. “So to be sitting on the outside hoping to be in is a strange spot to be in.”
If Cleary chooses not to run his strongest DMR team on Saturday, he will field a very strong mid-to-long-distance lineup that includes senior Karly Hamric in the 800, freshman Kaylyn Christopher in the 1,000, sophomore Keri Bland in the mile, Marie-Louise Asselin in the 3,000 and Clara Grandt in the 5,000.
“That is a strong 800 through 5,000 and we would run a very strong DMR of Alison Spiker, Kate Harrison and Jordann Mitchell,” Cleary said. “That team could finish third or fourth in the DMR without those other runners.”
Bland and Asselin are meet favorites in their respective events. Cleary has had to petition the conference to get Asselin an exemption to run in this weekend’s race because she has yet to run during indoor season after coming an illness and also nursing a minor hip flexor problem. Last year, Asselin finished seventh in the 3,000 at indoor nationals.
“She is behind but she’s coming on very, very strong and hopefully she can be productive this weekend,” Cleary said.
Sophomore Chelsea Carrier is ranked 11th in the country in the pentathlon and is the top-ranked Big East performer in that event. Carrier also has the fourth fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles, and the ninth-best performance in the high jump.
“Chelsea is competing at the highest level that she ever has,” said Cleary. “She is last year’s outdoor hurdles champ and I think she’s ranked third or fourth in the hurdles going in.
“She’s a big-meet runner.”
Junior April Rotilio is qualified in the 200 and 400-meter events. Rotilio is ranked third in the 200 with a time of 24.17, and she is also ranked third in the 400 with a school-record time of 54.64 performed at the Penn State National Invitational Jan. 30.
“She is one of the premier long sprinters in the conference right now so that’s exciting,” Cleary said.
Because Rotilio also runs a leg in the DMR, Cleary has a decision to make with her as well. If she runs the DMR that means she will likely not compete in the 200 because the 200 and the 400 run so closely together.
“It’s a very tough double but one that she can do,” Cleary said.
Cleary is also looking for strong results in the pole vault and in the high jump. Sophomore Alex Acker enters this weekend ranked second in the conference after clearing 12’8” at Penn State on Jan. 30. Junior Kristen Loughery is also qualified and has the 15th-best mark heading into this weekend.
“Kristen Loughery is coming off a big sickness over Christmas and she is getting better by the day,” Cleary said. “It won’t surprise me if Kristen doesn’t sneak in there and we have two scorers in the pole vault.”
Cleary is hopeful of getting points from sophomore Katelyn Williams in the high jump. Williams goes into this weekend ranked eighth in the Big East clearing 5’7 ¾” earlier this year.
“If we can get a little production out of our high jump and everybody performs at the level they have been performing at the last three or four weeks my feeling is we go up and score between 60 and 70-some points - and that should get us anywhere from third to sixth,” Cleary said.
West Virginia will also enter a 4x800-meter relay team, but does not have competitors entered in many of the field events.
“We’re looking to fill some holes in the future with our throws program,” Cleary said. “We’ve got some sprinters who are going to score and we’ve got some jumpers who are going to score.
“We’ve got middle and long distance and some pole vaulters, but we need a little help in the throws and in the long and triple jumps,” Cleary said. “That is kind of the missing link in the program right now and we’re working on that.”
Cleary is eying a strong performance this weekend but with just 14 competitors qualified, he’s realistic about his team’s chances of cracking the top three.
“I want to do the best things we can do to help our kids get to nationals and perform very, very well at nationals and still have a very respectable conference finish,” he said.
