Bearcat Track and Field Travels to Baton Rouge

The University of Cincinnati qualified 13 athletes and two relay teams to the Mid-East Regional, hosted by Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on May 28-29, 2004. The Bearcats will be represented in 13 separate events including the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes, the 110 and 400 meter hurdles, the long jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, decathlon, heptathlon and the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays. Competition on Friday and Saturday is scheduled to begin at noon and continue until 8:30 p.m. both days.

DOUBLE DIPPERS: Four Cincinnati athletes have qualified in two separate events. Kenny Wade will be participating in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes while David Payne is qualified in both the 110 and 400 meter hurdles. James White will represent the Bearcats in the long jump and high jump while Chris Wineberg is qualified in the pole vault and decathlon.

WHAT’S NEXT?: The Mid-East regionals is the qualifying event for the NCAA National Championships. The top five placers in each individual race and the top three finishers in the relay events automatically move on to the National Championships, held June 9-12, 2004 in Austin, Texas. From there, each athlete that participates in the regional meet is eligible for an at-large selection. The NCAA committee will “fill the field” with the remaining athletes one event at a time until all events have an even number of participants. After that, one athlete will be added to each event until the maximum number of participants is met (544 males and 544 females) but not exceeded.
The combined events (decathlon and heptathlon) are not contested on the regional level and thus are the exception to this rule. The combined performance list has been kept since the beginning of the season, and will be used to fill the NCAA field directly.
POSSIBLE REPEAT PERFORMANCE: Last season David Payne became Cincinnati’s seventh All-American after placing third at the NCAA Championships in the 110 meter hurdles in a time of 13:53. This year Payne set a new Conference USA meet record on May 15 in the same event, and has placed first in all but one of his races thus far this season. He also captured the C-USA title in the 400 meter hurdles, setting a new school record in a time of 51.20 seconds. He is currently ranked eighth in the nation in the 110 meter hurdles and is seventh in the nation in the 400 meter hurdles.

VAULTING OVER THE TOP: Cincinnati has three athletes qualified in the pole vaulting event, the most of any of the other 13 events. Chris Wineberg leads the Bearcats after clearing 17’00.75” during the Texas Relays in April. Chad Beamer became the second Bearcat to vault himself into the Mid-East Regional the next weekend, clearing 16’4.75.” Chris Smith then qualified on April 17, vaulting 16’8.75.”

NATURAL JUMPER: James White joined the team late following a successful basketball season, but missing the first few practices of the season did not hurt this talented jumper. White cleared 7’1” in his first high jumping practice. Although he hasn’t yet jumped that high in a meet, White did qualify for the Mid-East Regional in his first appearance. He then decided to add long jumping to his repertoire , qualifying in that event in his second meet, and went on to win the prestigious Drake Relays his next time out.

THE LONE BEARCAT: Renee Hein has the distinguished position of the lone athlete Cincinnati is sending from the women’s team. Ashley Wilhelm has a chance of earning an at-large selection in the heptathlon, but will not be competing in Baton Rouge. Hein, who leads the team with the best high jump after clearing 5’10” on May 1, will represent the women’s team in the first scheduled event on Saturday. She is currently ranked 6th in the region and is 36th in the nation.

A TEAM EFFORT: The men have been working together as a team since the beginning of the season, so it should come as no suprise that they qualified both relay teams. The 4x100 team finished third in the C-USA Championships, posting a time of 40.60 seconds, improving on their previous qualification mark. The 4x400 team also had an impressive conference meet, posting the qualification time of 3:10.84 placing second.