The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/sports/2008/02/08/two_sports_stars

February 8, 2008 > Sports > Two-sport stars’ sprint efforts propel men’s track to victories

Two-sport stars’ sprint efforts propel men’s track to victories

By Brody Rollins | Thresher staff

In what was a welcome change, the senior sprinting trio of Gary Anderson, Jon Turner and Bubba Heard carried the men’s track and field team last weekend at the University of Houston Indoor Invitational.

Rice, a squad that typically gets very little production out of its sprinters during the indoor season, can expect more of a boost in that area — Turner, Heard and Anderson are all in great shape after playing football in the fall, and the work they have done in the past few weeks should begin to show in the Owls’ next meet, the Husky Invitational Feb. 16 in Seattle, Wa.

Although there was little riding on last week’s races, overall, the Owls came out with a hot start behind Turner, who grabbed a win in the 60 meters with a personal-best time of 6.86 seconds, just .06 seconds ahead UH’s Ed Turner. His time was .02 seconds faster than two weeks ago, when he finished in second place at the Leonard Hilton Memorial on the UH campus. In addition, Turner turned in a fourth place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 22.51, which was also .02 seconds faster than his previous finish.

Heard kept the momentum going, coming in first place in the 200 with a time of 21.99 to defend his title from two weeks ago when he won with a time of 22.12. Anderson also placed fifth in the 60 hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.22 and seventh in the 200 with a time of 22.49.

Anderson’s success should come as no surprise to his teammates, as last year he recorded the Owls’ fastest indoor time in the 60 and the second-fastest time in the 200. This year he has added the hurdles, which looked to be a weakness for the team at the beginning of the season.

Sophomore Phillip Adam also contributed to Rice’s success last weekend when he scored a school-record 5,113 points in the heptathlon, an impressive 298 points ahead of the second-place finisher and just short of the NCAA provisional mark of 5,300. And, though he will not compete in the heptathlon at the Husky Invitational, he will be ready for the Conference USA championships three weeks from today.

In other events, freshman Ugo Nduaguba placed second in the triple jump with a total of 48 feet, two inches and the pole vaulting duo of sophomore Jason Colwick and freshman Shea Kearney finished third and fourth with vaults of 16-2.75 and 15-09, respectively.

Senior Charles Hampton also competed last weekend, finishing 11th overall and topping all Rice runners in the 3,000 in only his second distance event of the year. Hampton had missed the entire cross country season due to a back injury, so his high finish came as a pleasant surprise to teammates.

“Charles was a real big surprise in the 3,000, which was real nice to see,” junior Aaron Robson said. “It’s exciting to see him improving week to week and if he keeps going like this he should be in really good shape come championship time.”

End of article

Back to top