Pitt Track Update

[CMUandPitt]

Extremely disappointing day at the East Regionals. 48 per event get invited to regionals, in most cases top 12 advance to Eugene for the championships. Wolter is already through because they thankfully don't want to make college kids do a full Dec twice in consecutive weeks.

Here's how we did:

Noah Walker, Sr: Hammer Throw -- 18th (seeded #40)
Noah Walker, Sr: Discus Throw -- 22nd (seeded #15)
Collin Smith, Sr: Long Jump -- 27th (seeded #17)
Ade Jones-Roundtree, Sr: 400m -- 29th (seeded #25)
Matt Wilson, Sr: 400mh -- 33rd (seed #39)

On Friday we've got three qualifiers in the 3000mSC, one in the HJ, one in the 5k, one in the Jav, and the 4x4. None are seeded very high and it would be a surprise if any made it through. If it's going to happen, it's going to be either Josh Higgins in the steeple (#18) or the 4x4 (#15). Very disappointing.

Women start their prelims today but I'm not expecting much there either.

 

[CMUandPitt]

Pitt Men qualify the 4x400 (8th, seeded 15th) but nothing else. Hugely disappointing in the Steeple, and Lauray finishes his jumping career a good six or seven inches off of his PR.

Is Jamie Dixon coaching this team? Nearly every athlete peaked about a month ago.

If you're a track nerd, this year is a great year to tune into the Championships because you'll see at least 5 or 6 athletes who will go on to Tokyo and medal, despite how long and crazy their season is going to be.

And North Carolina A&T -- a HBCU with almost no history in the sport -- has risen to be dominant in the sprints and will likely set a new CR for the 4x400m in a time that would beat every nation in the world that isn't the US. For some background, we qualified 8th with a 3:06.92; A&T ran a 2:59.21 without one of their top guys.

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

Extremely disappointing day at the East Regionals. 48 per event get invited to regionals, in most cases top 12 advance to Eugene for the championships. Wolter is already through because they thankfully don't want to make college kids do a full Dec twice in consecutive weeks.

Here's how we did:

Noah Walker, Sr: Hammer Throw -- 18th (seeded #40)
Noah Walker, Sr: Discus Throw -- 22nd (seeded #15)
Collin Smith, Sr: Long Jump -- 27th (seeded #17)
Ade Jones-Roundtree, Sr: 400m -- 29th (seeded #25)
Matt Wilson, Sr: 400mh -- 33rd (seed #39)

On Friday we've got three qualifiers in the 3000mSC, one in the HJ, one in the 5k, one in the Jav, and the 4x4. None are seeded very high and it would be a surprise if any made it through. If it's going to happen, it's going to be either Josh Higgins in the steeple (#18) or the 4x4 (#15). Very disappointing.

Women start their prelims today but I'm not expecting much there either.

Why would a serious track athlete attend a school who doesn’t even have a track?

 

[CMUandPitt]

Why would a serious track athlete attend a school who doesn’t even have a track?

This is a very fair question. I was somewhat surprised when they didn't include an outdoor facility with the initial Victory Heights proposal, but an indoor one is supposedly coming. We shall see.

What I would do in the interim is orient the team around facilities you DO have -- in the same way that a school like A&T clearly orients around sprints, I'd orient the team around distance, throws, and jumps. All you need is running trails (which Pittsburgh has in spades) and a field house, not a 400m outdoor track in an urban environment. That is the opposite of Coach Webb's strength though.

But yes, I would generally say that the team has produced about as well as you would guess a school in a northern state with no track would do.

 

[Kylek02]

Pitt Men qualify the 4x400 (8th, seeded 15th) but nothing else. Hugely disappointing in the Steeple, and Lauray finishes his jumping career a good six or seven inches off of his PR.

Is Jamie Dixon coaching this team? Nearly every athlete peaked about a month ago.

If you're a track nerd, this year is a great year to tune into the Championships because you'll see at least 5 or 6 athletes who will go on to Tokyo and medal, despite how long and crazy their season is going to be.

And North Carolina A&T -- a HBCU with almost no history in the sport -- has risen to be dominant in the sprints and will likely set a new CR for the 4x400m in a time that would beat every nation in the world that isn't the US. For some background, we qualified 8th with a 3:06.92; A&T ran a 2:59.21 without one of their top guys.

Thanks for the updates! Also the A&T tidbit is incredible. The championships in Eugene always have some world class athletes and stellar times. I’ll have to tune in.

 

[pittchagg]

This is a very fair question. I was somewhat surprised when they didn't include an outdoor facility with the initial Victory Heights proposal, but an indoor one is supposedly coming. We shall see.

What I would do in the interim is orient the team around facilities you DO have -- in the same way that a school like A&T clearly orients around sprints, I'd orient the team around distance, throws, and jumps. All you need is running trails (which Pittsburgh has in spades) and a field house, not a 400m outdoor track in an urban environment. That is the opposite of Coach Webb's strength though.

But yes, I would generally say that the team has produced about as well as you would guess a school in a northern state with no track would do.

It seems to me like they maybe made the business decision that if you can only build one, you get more value out of an indoor track, especially since they seem to have a decent enough relationship with CMU for their facility when the weather cooperates (which isn’t often!)