Cards Ready for Upcoming BIG EAST Outdoor Championships
May 03, 2007 | Track & Field
May 3, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After seven weeks of regional and national competition, the nationally ranked University of Louisville track and field program turns its focus to this weekend's BIG EAST Outdoor Championships at the George J. Sherman Family Complex on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
The Cards have 44 athletes, 25 men and 19 women, set to compete in the event with a school record total of 79 qualifying marks, including 45 for the men and 34 for the women. The three-day meet will begin Friday at Noon with the first day of multi-events, while the bulk of the events will be contested on Saturday and Sunday.
"The reigning champions from the indoor season are Notre Dame on the men's side and Georgetown on the women's side, and I'd say those two would be the odds on favorites again," said U of L head coach Ron Mann. "Our goal is to be in contention again for the men's title and to make a run at finishing in the upper half of the conference on the women's side of things."
In Feb., the Cardinal men's team finished second overall at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships, only 2.5 points behind the Fighting Irish, while the Louisville women were sixth overall. At last May's BIG EAST Outdoor Championships in Connecticut, the Cardinal men also finished second to the Irish, losing by seven points, while the women were sixth in that event.
"I think Notre Dame has a better team this season than they did last year at this time, so our chances of winning will be dependant on us having an outstanding set of performances over the three days," Mann said. "For our men, the key events will be the intermediate hurdles, the 5,000-meter run, the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the long jump because those are events where we will go head-to-head with Notre Dame."
The Cardinal men's team, ranked 15th this week in both the Trackwire Top 25 and the USTFCCCA Top 20 poll, enters this weekend's conference meet with the top ranked athlete in five events. Sophomore Tone Belt, the 2007 NCAA indoor long jump champion and a five-time BIG EAST champion, leads the way for the men as the top ranked athlete in the long jump and high jump competitions, while sophomore Andre Black, the 2007 NCAA indoor triple jump champion and a three-time BIG EAST champion, leads the way in the triple jump.
Senior Arthur Turland is No. 1 in the discus and sophomore Cory Thorne is tops in the 3,000m steeplechase. On the women's side, UofL senior Emily Turland leads the conference event performance list in the hammer.
"I strongly believe to win a conference title you need to have good athletes, good health and a little bit of luck," Mann said. "We have a good group of athletes and we're pretty healthy right now, so we're hoping for a little luck this weekend in Storrs."
Entering the weekend, the Cards have a school record 24 qualifiers for the NCAA Mideast Regional on May 25-26 in Columbia, Mo. With 15 men's qualifiers and nine women's qualifiers, the Cards have surpassed the previous school record total of 17 set last season.
After this weekend, the Cards will not compete again until the NCAA Mideast Regional on the final weekend in May, and that event will be followed by the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.
Players Mentioned
