2002 Returning NCAA Track and Field Champions to Highlight Mideast Regionals at Ohio State – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
May 27, 2003
Columbus, Ohio – The first annual running of the 2003 NCAA Regional Track and Field Championships at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, May 30 and 31, will serve as the showcase for several returning individual national champions from the 2002 NCAA Championships. Highlighting the event will be stiff competition in the women’s 100-meter hurdles as the Top 2 competitors from last season will return to race for the regional title. Reigning national champion Perdita Felicien of Illinois will face Lolo Jones of Louisiana State among others in the event. Felicien has narrowly edged Jones in the descending order lists by just .02 heading into the regional meet.
The distance events also feature returning title-winners in 3,000-meter steeplechase champion Daniel Lincoln of Arkansas and 10,000-meter champ Boaz Cheboiywa of Eastern Michigan. Lincoln and Cheboiywa, both seniors, established venue records at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium in their respective events a year ago. Lincoln also took third in the men’s 5,000 meters in 2002 and ranks just behind Cheboiywa in the descending lists heading into the regional.
The final returning NCAA Champion is Tennessee’s Gary Kikaya in the 400-meter hurdles. Kikaya will face 2002 third place finisher Pete Coley of LSU in the regional heats. Kikaya ranks at the top of the descending orders list this season with a 45.57.
100-meter third placer Pierre Browne of Mississippi State, who leads the current descending orders list with a scorching 10.09 figure, will lead the field in that event. Following closely behind Browne is teammate Marquis Davis, who clocked a 10.10 April 4; the same day Brown scored his best mark. Joining Browne and Davis is Brian Johnson of Southern University, who timed a 10.28 a day earlier to qualify. Johnson also will compete in the long jump, where he placed third at last season’s nationals with a 26-1.50. Browne joins in Johnson as a competitor in multiple events as he will chase medals in the men’s 200-meter dash, where he took third a year ago. Once again, Browne’s stiffest competition in the 200m could be teammate Davis, who tops the descending list in the event. The women’s 200-meter dash features a pair of LSU Tigers, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee, who return after third and fourth place finishes in 2002. Lee sits atop the descending list in the 100-meter dash with a 10.39, while standing second in front of Durst in the 200m with a 22.74.
Other Top 3 individual performers set to take action at the regional meet include Bennie Brazell of LSU and Fred Sharpe representing Auburn in the 400-meter hurdles, while Chris Mulvaney of Arkansas and Josh Spiker of Wisconsin will take to the track in the men’s 1,500 meters.
Ohio State senior sprinter Joel Brown (Baltimore, Md.) and junior thrower Dan Taylor (Middlefield, Ohio) will lead the Buckeye contingent as they look to build upon their success at the 2003 Big Ten Championships. While at the conference meet, Taylor placed in three events including a championship performance in the shot put. Following the event Taylor was named Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year. The indoor All-American will compete in all three competitions at the event.
Brown also posted a strong showing at the Big Ten championships as he placed first in the 110-meter hurdles and anchored the OSU 4×100-meter relay squad to a second place finish. Brown joins Taylor as a three-event qualifier, competing in each of the 110m hurdles, 200m and 4x100m at regionals.
The Ohio State women’s team will look to a combination of experience and youth in the regional competition in senior high jumper Tami Smith (Galloway, Ohio) and freshman thrower Amarachi Ukabam (Creve Couer, Mo.). Smith, a 2002 All-American, claimed her third straight conference crown in the women’s high jump with a 5-11.25.
Last week, Ukabam was rewarded for her outstanding first season of collegiate competition as she was named Big Ten Female Freshman of the Year. Ukabam, the 2003 conference champ in the discus, has qualified in each of the hammer, discus and shot put events.
Another outstanding freshman will head Ohio State’s distance area as Aaron Fisher (Indianapolis, Ind.), who recorded a conference championship effort in the 5,000-meter run with a career-best 14:19.41, while also taking second in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with another career mark of 8:48.23.
In the field events Ohio State will be well represented from individuals on both the men’s and women’s teams. Leading the way for the men will be Drew Carter (Jr., Solon, Ohio) as he will compete in the long jump following his second place performance at the Big Ten championships, while triple jumpers Shayla Moore (So., Jessup, Md.) and Rosalind Goodwin (So., Louisville, Ky.) will look to place for OSU. Goodwin also will take action in the long jump field.
Also representing Ohio State will be multi-event individual Nicholette Chambers (Jr., New Haven, Conn.) hurdler Molly Logan (Sr., Philadelphia, Pa.), throwers Krista Keir (Sr., Westerville, Ohio) and the 4×100 team consisting of Greg Norman (So., Amherst, Ohio), D. Carter, Michael Jenkins (Jr., Tampa, Fla.) and J. Brown.
Not only will the event be chalk full of outstanding individual athletes, but will also feature conference championship teams from the Big Ten, Southeastern, Big East and Mid-American Conference, among others. SEC men’s champion Arkansas will compete with Big East champ Notre Dame, while Michigan will represent the Big Ten as its title winner and will pit itself against SEC powers Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and the Fighting Irish, who claimed second in the Big East on the women’s side. The Mid-American conference also will be represented by both its men’s and women’s teams as Central Michigan will compete on the men’s side and Eastern Michigan on the women’s.
Other programs representing the Big Ten will include Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Illinois.
Competition begins in throw events both Friday and Saturday at noon, while the running events will commence with trials Friday at 4 p.m. with the women’s 4×400-meter relay. Running will begin Saturday at 6 p.m. with the finals of the women’s 4x400m.
Event information and a link to results may be viewed at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com .
###Go Bucks!###
