Cardinals Seek First-Ever BIG EAST Indoor Championships
February 17, 2010 | Men's Track and Field
Feb. 17, 2010
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville men's and women's indoor track and field teams will be seeking their first-ever BIG EAST indoor titles this weekend when they travel to New York, N.Y. for the 2010 BIG EAST Indoor Championships on Feb. 20-21 at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory.
The No. 15 Cardinal women, who placed third at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships a year ago, will try to overtake a very competitive conference. The BIG EAST conference features two other women's teams ranked in the top 25 with No.9 Villanova and No.24 Georgetown. Both the Cardinal men and women also face yet another difficult task, dethroning men's and women's defending back-to-back indoor champion Connecticut.
The Cardinal women will be led by junior D'Ana McCarty, the defending NCAA and BIG EAST weight throw champion, and seniors Jere' Summers, Rachel Gehret and Saravia Richardson. McCarty and Summers rank first and second nationally in the weight throw with marks of 73'4.5 (22.36m) and 70'10.5 (21.60m) respectively, while Summers also owns the third-longest toss in the shot put at 55'9.25 (17.00m). Gehret currently ranks 18th in the nation in the high jump with a height of 5'10.75 (1.80m). Richardson currently ranks 25th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.41.
On the men's side, the Cards finished third at the 2009 BIG EAST Indoor Championships a year ago. They also will look to dethrone back-to-back defending men's champion Connecticut.
The men's team is led by their fierce jumping group of seniors Tone Belt, Andre Black and Rudon Bastian who will team with sophomores Wesley Smith and Seon Powell to attempt to sweep the jumping events.
With six student-athletes compiling seven qualification times in four different events, the Louisville men's team leads all BIG EAST teams with NCAA provisional-qualifying marks. Senior Tone Belt leads the Cardinals with two provisional marks, qualifying in the high jump and long jump.
Belt, the defending BIG EAST Indoor champion and 2007 NCAA champion in the long jump, will look to improve on his current NCAA marks. Belt is currently ranked 10th in the long jump (25'6.25/7.78m) and 14th in the high jump (7'2.25/2.19m).
Black will also be looking to defend his BIG EAST triple jump title. Black has been in national title contention since his freshman year. Black won the event in 2007 and finished runner-up in 2008. He is currently ranked eighth in the NCAA with a leap of 52'7.25(16.03m).
Bastian and Smith are both ranked in the top 20 in the long jump. Smith is currently ranked 12th with a leap of 25'4.5 (7.73m) while Bastian is ranked 16th with a jump of 25'1.25 (7.65m).
Also looking to improve on his NCAA time is junior Matt Bruce. A native of Oshawa, Ont., Bruce is currently ranked 18th in the 5,000m run with a time of 14:03.36
The Cards will have a weekend off to prepare for the Alex Wilson Invitational on March 5-6 in South Bend, Ind. The meet will mark U of L's last attempt to earn qualifying marks for the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships which will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. during the weekend of March 12-13. Louisville has 14 NCAA provisional qualifiers and three automatic bids so far this season.
For the most up-to-date information on Louisville track and field and all of your favorite Cardinal athletes, visit www.uoflsports.com
Players Mentioned
