May 6, 2006
- The University of Cincinnati men's track and field team sits in fourth place after the first full day of competition at the 2006 BIG EAST Championships. The women's squad is in 13th place after Saturday's action at the Sherman Family Sports Complex.
The men posted 28 points and trail Lousiville (71 points), Notre Dame (37) and Villanova (32), while (53 points) leads the women's meet. UC scored 13.5 points.
The men's squad was led by Chandler Groves, who finished third in the long jump with a 24' 6-1/2" leap. Also scoring in the long jump for UC were Tim Poirier (7th, 23' 3-1/4") and Bob Kandell (8th, 23' 2-1/2"). got fourth-place finishes from John Caplinger in the shot put (52' 7-1/2") and Andrew Smith in the high jump (6' 8-1/4"). The 3,000 steeplechase was a strength for the Bearcats as Kevin Schwarz finished third (9:07.90) and Taylor Garvin placed fourth (9:12.76).
The preliminaries in the running events featured several strong UC performances, highlighted by John Bowie's 10.52 in the 100 meter dash, the top mark in the event. also qualified for the 200 meter dash finals with a 21.43. Cedric Powell qualified for both the 200 (21.60) and 400 meters (47.29).
Brittany Klima was the top women's finisher, placing third in the pole vault, matching her own school record with a 12' 5-1/2" clearance. Tara Meier finished eighth in the pole vault (11' 11-3/4") and Ije Obiorah placed seventh in the long jump with a personal-best 18' 10-3/4" leap. In the preliminaries of the 800 meters, Jocelyn Gibson was ninth, but ran a 2:11.71, just .47 off of Mandy McCumber's school record.
The final day of competition will begin on Sunday, May 7, at 9 a.m.