the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Simon Bucknell Junior Garrett Stafford sprints down the runway in preparation for his vault in the Texas A&M Challenge Feb. 12. Stafford contributed five points to the Owls' total of 92 in the C-USA Indoor Championship.

From the moment the doors to the Yeoman Fieldhouse opened for the Conference USA Indoor Championships Feb. 26, the identity of the Houston school which would take home the gold was never a mystery. Unfortunately for Rice, that school was none other than the University of Houston, which collected an impressive 183.5 points on its way to its fourth-consecutive C-USA Indoor title.

The Owls racked up 92 points, good enough for fourth place, something Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) was not displeased with.

"I would love to be able to complain about how we did, but the reality is, we made some strategic redshirting decisions, primarily [redshirt freshman] Clayton Chaney, who, if he would have competed, would have helped us to finish second," Warren said. "There's no gray area with that outcome."

Despite Chaney's absence this season, the Owls still performed well in the field events, tallying 58 of their 92 points in the pole vault, high jump and heptathlon. Senior Jason Colwick had another outstanding performance, taking home his first gold in the C-USA Indoor Championships, while also setting a meet record with a vault of 5.36 meters on his first attempt.

Junior Garrett Stafford and freshman Alec Hsu cleared 4.76 meters to earn Rice additional points in the event, while senior Chris Kato and junior Shea Kearney each vaulted 4.61 meters.

Sophomore Jack Spinks continued his string of impressive performances as he finished first in the high jump and received the bronze medal in the heptathlon, garnering 4,703 points among the six events. Spinks alone accounted for more than one-sixth of the Owls' collective points.

Fellow scorers in the high jump were freshmen Ikechi Nnamani and Tyler Wiest, both of whom cleared 2.00 meters, but Nnamani was awarded the silver medal because he cleared the height on his first try.

Rounding out Rice's entrants in the heptathlon were second-place finisher junior Philip Adam and junior Connor Hayes, who took fourth with 4,595 points.

Continued...

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