Men's track places third overall at C-USA Championship
Jonathan Myers
Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: Sports
Going into spring break, the men's track and field team was primed to put the finishing touches on the masterpiece that was the 2009 indoor season, but a third-place finish at the Conference USA Indoor Championships had the Owls feeling like the last movement ended on a sour note.
Despite several outstanding performances, Rice had several minor injuries and mishaps that ultimately led to their diminished performance at conference.
Head coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) seemed to have had somewhat higher expectations for the team at the meet.
"We had a very disappointing meet," Warren said. "To be honest, it was not at all great. I thought we were going to be in good position for second, but we had injuries prior to the meet, and then our meet just didn't go well. For having a disappointing meet, I guess third's pretty good."
Many things seemed to unravel during the course of the two-day meet, as Warren noted that strange ailments haunted the Owls over several events.
"We had an injury in the 800 meter prelims that cost us points, and an asthma attack in the 5000," Warren said. "Our shot putters didn't throw as well, and our high jump didn't go as well as expected....There were good things that happened, but we just couldn't overcome our series of disasters."
Freshman Sam McGuffie continued to adjust quickly to being a member of the track team, running a 6.82-second 60 meters in the preliminaries, which was good for the second-fastest time. However, he slipped out of the blocks in the finals and ran the event in 7.04 seconds, finishing in eighth place. He also finished sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.89 meters and was fifth in the long jump with 7.06 meters.
Besides McGuffie's performance, other freshmen also shone at the conference meet. Dan Sloat finished sixth in the 800 with a time of 1:56, while Collin Shurbet ran the 400 in 49.45 seconds, good enough for fourth place.
Clayton Chaney also continued the excellent performances put on by freshmen, finishing fifth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.29 seconds, and third in the heptathlon. Sophomore Connor Hayes and senior Tyler Whitham finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the heptathlon.
Despite several outstanding performances, Rice had several minor injuries and mishaps that ultimately led to their diminished performance at conference.
Head coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) seemed to have had somewhat higher expectations for the team at the meet.
"We had a very disappointing meet," Warren said. "To be honest, it was not at all great. I thought we were going to be in good position for second, but we had injuries prior to the meet, and then our meet just didn't go well. For having a disappointing meet, I guess third's pretty good."
Many things seemed to unravel during the course of the two-day meet, as Warren noted that strange ailments haunted the Owls over several events.
"We had an injury in the 800 meter prelims that cost us points, and an asthma attack in the 5000," Warren said. "Our shot putters didn't throw as well, and our high jump didn't go as well as expected....There were good things that happened, but we just couldn't overcome our series of disasters."
Freshman Sam McGuffie continued to adjust quickly to being a member of the track team, running a 6.82-second 60 meters in the preliminaries, which was good for the second-fastest time. However, he slipped out of the blocks in the finals and ran the event in 7.04 seconds, finishing in eighth place. He also finished sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.89 meters and was fifth in the long jump with 7.06 meters.
Besides McGuffie's performance, other freshmen also shone at the conference meet. Dan Sloat finished sixth in the 800 with a time of 1:56, while Collin Shurbet ran the 400 in 49.45 seconds, good enough for fourth place.
Clayton Chaney also continued the excellent performances put on by freshmen, finishing fifth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.29 seconds, and third in the heptathlon. Sophomore Connor Hayes and senior Tyler Whitham finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the heptathlon.
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Sam McGuffie
posted 3/26/09 @ 9:18 AM CST
McGuffie!!!!
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