TicketsTrio Heads to NCAA Championships
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
6/8/2004
Severe weather postponed day one of the NCAA Track & Field Championships |
Day One of the NCAA Track and Field Championships was delayed by severe weather. David Payne's scheduled prelims in the 110-meter hurdles have been resecheduled for Thursday.
Three track athletes from the University of Cincinnati will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on June 9-12 at the University of Texas? Mike A. Myers Stadium. 2003 All-American David Payne leads the way, as he his currently ranked eighth in the nation in the 110-meter hurdles. He his joined by Chris Wineberg, the school record holder in the decathlon, and Kenny Wade, who was a surprising qualifier in the 200-meter dash.
POSSIBLE REPEAT PERFORMANCE: Last season David Payne became Cincinnati?s seventh All-American after placing third at the NCAA Championships in the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 13:53. This year Payne set a new Conference USA meet record on May 15 in the same event, and has placed first in all but two of his races thus far this season. He also captured the C-USA title in the 400 meter hurdles, setting a new school record in a time of 51.20 seconds.
OUT OF NOWHERE: Junior Kenny Wade entered the NCAA Regional meet ranked 26th in the region, but in the preliminary round ran a school-record 20.86 to reach the finals and qualify for the NCAA Championships. In the finals he placed seventh in 20.99 seconds. He improved his national ranking from 86th to 23rd.
RECORD-BREAKING TRIO: The Bearcats hold the unique distinction of all three of their national qualifiers being school-record holders. David Payne set new marks in the 110-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles at the Mid-East Regional meet, bettering marks he already held. Kenny Wade bettered the 200-meter dash mark, also at the regional meet. Chris Wineberg held the second-best decathlon score in UC history for two years before he finally broke though at the Texas Relays on April 1, breaking the 26-year old mark of his coach, Jim Schnur.