Big East Preview
April 29, 2010 05:39 PM | General
April 29, 2010
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| Katelyn Williams |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University track and field team is back in action this weekend as it travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, for the BIG EAST Outdoor Track and Field Championships on April 30-May 2, at Gettler Stadium.
This season, the Mountaineers have 16 student-athletes competing, including 10 distance runners and six field athletes. Despite not running a few of the team’s top athletes, including All-American’s Chelsea Carrier and April Rotilio, third-year coach Sean Cleary expects his team to go out and perform well.
“These are decisions that the coaching staff sat down and talked about several months ago and stuck to it,” Cleary admitted. “With that said the goals for this weekend are much more revolved around individual performances as opposed to the overall team’s performance. However, we are still taking a really good team. If we can go out there and finish in the top half of the BIG EAST, then we will come home very happy.”
Junior Katelyn Williams, a Chesterland, Ohio, native, is one of West Virginia’s headliners Friday, representing the Mountaineers in the heptathlon starting with the 100-meter hurdles at noon.
“Katelyn Williams is going to attempt her first championship multi-event,” Cleary said. “Training has gone well all spring and she is in a different place mentally right now. She is a little more consistent and focused throughout her competitions. I see no reason for her not to go out and score in that competition this weekend.”
Running events for the Mountaineers are set to begin on Saturday with the 1,500-meter trails at 1:30 p.m. Senior Karly Hamric and juniors Kaylyn Christopher and Jessica O’Connell will represent the team for the first time since qualifying for the conference championships at the Arizona State Sun Angel Classic on April 11.
O’Connell led the pack as she finished eighth (4:22.29), while Hamric and Christopher followed at 10th and 16th, crossing the line in 4:22.95 and 4:27.39, respectively.
“Those girls came off an indoor season where they were All-Americans in the distance medley relay and Karly Hamric ranked as one of the top 10 Americans in the mile while she redshirted,” Cleary said. “After the indoor season we could have either taken one of two roads – go straight forward into racing and take advantage of the great winter shape, or start all over again and rebuild them because you care about what happens in June.
“I chose the second. I think in their case, they are slowly getting back to where they were in the winter. Whether we see it Saturday or not – they can definitely do it and we will surely see it in the next three weeks.”
Later in the day, senior Keri Bland will race in the 800-meter run, while senior Clara Grandt runs in the 10K that evening.
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| Kate Harrison |
The Mountaineers will finish the meet on Sunday as senior Marie-Louise Asselin, juniors Kate Harrison, Ahna Lewis, Stephanie Caruso and sophomore Sarah-Anne Brault compete in the 5,000-meter race.
Asselin heads into the event after a school-record breaking performance in the 5K at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Sarnia, Ontario, native placed second to earn All-America honors as she broke her own school record with a time of 15:50.53.
“Marie-Louise is coming off an excellent second-place showing at the indoor nationals,” said Cleary. “She is ready to run and her training is going tremendous right now, so I hope she has a good weekend.”
For the first time in several years, WVU will be represented in throwing events as senior Brittany Fink and junior Terina Miller compete in the discus and the hammer throw, respectively.
Both qualified for the BIG EAST Championships at the Robert Morris Bennie Benson Invitational on April 10, as Fink threw 42.31 meters for a first-place finish in the discus and Miller finished first in the hammer throw (45.13 meters).
“We have been without throwers for the past couple of years at the BIG EAST Championships and I am excited for them,” Cleary stated. “The unity in that group and the camaraderie they have has been contagious to our entire program. Matt (Conly) has done a great job coaching them. We are looking for them to get some experience and maybe to sneak in and help us a little bit.”
In the jumps, sophomore Meghan Mock will compete in the long jump and Williams, senior Natasha Redman and freshman Sydney Cummings will compete in the high jump.
“Sydney went out in the wind over at James Madison and found a way to win that competition. I think if she clears one more bar than she did at JMU she will find herself in a great scoring spot,” Cleary said. “Redman came out early a year ago and had her best jump early at Duke. She had some good jumps after that but she never really found that form again. Watching her jump over the last few weeks, she is doing better. We are hoping that she can find last year’s Duke result and put it in the BIG EAST Championships.”
The Mountaineers are prepared to face a tough field of competition this weekend as Louisville fights for its third straight outdoor title. After winning this season’s indoor crown, Villanova also looks to put up some tough competition.
“I would say Louisville and Villanova are the big competitors. Notre Dame hasn’t been where they wanted to be in the last few years, but it looks like they have taken a step up this season,” Cleary said. “I would say those are the big ones that are fighting to win this championship.”
With a forecast of rain showers this weekend, look for the Mountaineers to use their experiences from this season to help them throughout the weekend.
“Track is a great sport. You go out on certain days and it is 75 degrees and beautiful, then you go out on a 50 degree day when it is windy and cold and it is a whole different sport,” added Cleary. “We have dealt with wind and rain in our last two meets and I think that will really help us this weekend.”
For live results, video streaming and meet information, visit www.BIGEAST.org.
