TicketsBearcats Open Outdoor Season
Host first meet at newly-renovated Gettler Stadium
Contact: Jeremy Martin
3/15/2005
2004 NCAA qualifier Kenny Wade |
BEARCATS OPEN OUTDOOR SEASON: After a record-breaking 2004, the University of Cincinnati men?s and women?s outdoor track and field teams open the 2005 season at home with the Early Bird Relays on Saturday, March 19. The Bearcats will host their first meet in the newly renovated Gettler Stadium.
MEET INFORMATION: The Bearcats host the Early Bird Relays, with field events beginning at 11 a.m. on March 19.
?Final results: Available at www. UCBearcats.com.
?Teams competing: Bowling Green (Women), Capital (Men & Women), Cedarville (M&W), Defiance (M&W), IPFW (W), Marshall (M&W), Northern Kentucky (M&W), Ohio Wesleyan (M&W), Wright State (W), Xavier (M&W).
?Scoring: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
?Events: Hammer, Discus, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Shot Put, Javelin, 3,000 Meter Steeplechase, 5, 000 Meters, 4 x 100 Meter Relay, 1,500 Meters, 110 Meter Hurdles (Men), 100 Meter Hurdles (Women), 400 Meters, 100 Meters, 800 Meters, 400 Meter Hurdles, 200 Meters, 4 x 400 Meter Relay.
OPENING GETTLER: The men?s and women?s track and field teams will play host to the Early Bird Relays in the first meet to be held in Gettler Stadium. The stadium, also home to UC?s men?s and women?s soccer teams, is part of the Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village. Gettler Stadium features an eight-lane, 400 meter track, an official size soccer field with FieldTurf Pro playing surface, permanent grandstands with seating for 1,400 patrons, concession stands and restrooms, a pressbox, scoreboard with message center, and lights. Varsity Village addresses the needs to attract quality student-athletes to all of Cincinnati?s sports programs and provide an environment in which they can succeed academically, athletically, and physically.
2005 C-USA INDOOR REVIEW: UC placed 5th at the 2005 C-USA Championships, a six-place improvement from the 11th-place finish in 2004.
Meet Highlights:
?Renee Hein was the Bearcats? lone event champion, winning the high jump in a jump off with a school-record 5' 9-1/2" mark. Hein has won the high jump in five of the six meets she has entered this season.
?Jo Young, placed second in the weight throw (58' 4-3/4") and third in the shot put (48' 6-1/4"), accumulating 14 of the Bearcats? 57 team points.
?Tara Meier set a school record with a 11' 11-3/4" pole vault, finishing fifth.
?Ashley Wilhelm placed fourth in the pentathlon, scoring a UC-record 3567 points.
?In the long jump, Erin Leeper placed sixth for UC with a personal-best 18' 8" jump.
LIKE A BROKEN RECORD: The women?s indoor track and field team set several school records in 2005.
Sophomore Renee Hein improved on her own school mark throughout the season, winning the C-USA high jump title with a 5? 9-1/2? leap.
Junior Shintara Carpenter also broke her own record in the triple jump, posting a 40? 10-1/4?.
Sophomore Tara Meier was locked in a three-way tie with Junior Ashley Wilhelm and Freshman Brittany Klima for the top pole vault mark. She eclipsed her teammates at the C-USA Championships with an 11? 11-3/4? vault.
Wilhelm bettered her own school mark, scoring 3567 points in the pentathlon in winning the Akron Open.
Senior Jo Young dominated the indoor season, winning seven of the 12 events she entered. Young holds each of the top 10 indoor shot put marks in school history.
DEFENDING THE CROWN: The UC men?s team will be looking to defend its Conference USA title this season. Last year, the men won their third C-USA crown in nine years. The Bearcat men have finished no lower than third at the C-USA Championships and placed second on four occasions.
The women?s team has improved since the league started in 1996. UC finished last, scoring only one team point in 1996, but has finished sixth and fifth, respectively, the last two seasons.
UC AMONG TOP TEAMS: The Cincinnati indoor track & field team finished the indoor season ranked 49th in the USTCA Power Rankings. The Bearcats are also rated 130th of 257 teams overall and 5th among Conference USA teams in the national rankings by trackshark.com.
FOUR BEARCATS PLACE AT USATF INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Four University of Cincinnati track and field athletes competed in the 2005 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 25-27 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Boston, Mass. Current athletes Kenny Wade and Chris Smith, along with former Bearcats David Payne and Mary Danner, all placed in the top 10 in their respective events.
Payne, a two-time All-American for UC, posted a 7.64 in the 60 meter hurdles finals, placing fourth. His 7.62 was the fastest time in the preliminaries and set an all-time Ohio record.
A 2004 NCAA qualifier, Wade just missed the finals in the 60 meter dash, posting a 6.777 in the preliminaries. Wade essentially finished ninth, as the last of the eight finals qualifiers ran a 6.771. His time broke his school record by .03 seconds.
Smith finished in a fifth-place tie in the pole vault, clearing 17' 3/4".
Danner placed second in the 400 meter dash, finishing in 53.25. Danner holds each of the top 10 marks in Bearcat history in the event, and bested her UC record of 55.54, which she set in 2002.
COMING UP: The Bearcats will send its field participants to the Mike Maynard Wildcat Combined Events meet in Tucson, Ariz on March 22-23. The rest of the team will head to the prestigious Raleigh Relays on March 25-26 in Raleigh, N.C.