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BOULDER—The University of Colorado is set to compete at the 2013 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships, Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, at Katherine B. Locker Stadium on the USC campus in Los Angeles. The Buffs are looking to do well at the meet. The women are already in first place after the heptathlon with 12 points, and the men have one point from the decathlon. The combined events portion of the championships was contested last weekend. CU has a trio of seniors that rank first in their respective events. Emma Coburn and Aric Van Halen lead the Pac-12 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Joe Morris is first in the 100. Coburn recorded her time of 9:28.26 in the steeplechase at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invite on April 28, the best in the world this season. Van Halen also earned his time of 8:44.32 at the same meet. Morris could have a huge meet as he is first in the 100 and second in the 200. He ran a time of 10.09 (10.12 when converted from altitude) in the 100 and 20.45 (20.52 converted) in the 200, which is second in the conference, at the Jack Christiansen Invite on April 27. He will also be a part of the men’s 4x400-meter relay (3:09.93), which ranks fifth in the Pac-12. The Buffs have a great deal of depth in many areas, especially in the distance and middle distance disciplines. Richard Medina (13:45.50) is fourth in the 5,000 and Pierce Murphy (29:37.71) is fifth in the 10k. Jake Hurysz (3:40.63) is also ranked fifth in the 1,500. Hugh Dowdy (8:59.90) and Blake Theroux (9:02.10) are sixth and ninth, respectively in the steeplechase. On the women’s side, Carrie Verdon is ranked 13[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 5k (16:14.58) and Diana George ranks 12[SUP]th[/SUP] in the steeplechase (10:41.97). Eileen Gehring will lead the CU women in the sprints. She is ranked 10[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 400 (53.23) and is 14[SUP]th[/SUP] in the 200 (23.80). Both times are CU records. Gehring will also be part of the Buffs’ 4x400 relay, which is rated sixth (3:38.17). Brianne Beemer and Tyler Baker will be running the 400-meter hurdles. Baker is currently ranked seventh (53.28) and Beemer is ninth (1:00.05). The field events are also looking strong. Kelsey English has jumped 5-10.75 this season, which is the fifth-best in the conference and Mark Jones ranks sixth in the Pac-12 after clearing 7-1.50. Another jumping event the Buffs will look to do well in is the long jump. Abrianna Torres has jumped 20-02.25 this season and is seventh in the Pac-12. Emily Hunsucker, the CU record holder in the hammer throw, is fifth in the league after recording a mark of 203-9 last weekend. The meet will start at 10 a.m. on Saturday with the women’s hammer throw; the first track event will start at 1 p.m. with the first round of the women’s 4x100-meter relay. Sunday’s events start at 9 a.m. with the men’s hammer throw. The championships will conclude with the men’s 4x400-meter relay at 5:25p.m. and will be followed by an awards presentation. All times listed are Pacific. Live stats and a complete schedule for the championships can be found at pac-12.org. |
