Senior sprinter Heard's emergence highlights men's track's resurgence
Last year the members of the men's track team could count the number of NCAA regional events they qualified for on one hand. This year, however, that hand could be used to count the events that senior Bubba Heard has qualified for all by himself. Add another hand and a foot and maybe we could start counting his individual victories.Facing both collegiate and amateur competition last weekend at the Houston Invitational, Heard qualified for regionals in his third event this season, the 100 meter sprint. Heard was the top collegian in the race, which counts as a victory by NCAA standards, and finished with a time of 10.43 seconds. He improved his mark by .31 seconds from the previous week and moved up to second in the Conference USA event rankings.
Senior Jon Turner finished third in the event with a time of 10.57, just .02 off of the regional-qualifying mark.
After finishing first in the 100, Heard raced in the 200 and broke the 21-second barrier yet again this season. Heard is the first to break this prestigious mark at Rice since 1995. He finished in 20.95, just .02 off his previous best mark. Heard is ranked third in C-USA behind two runners from the University of Texas-El Paso.
Heard did not race in the 400, the third event in which he is qualified, but he still retains the fourth fastest time in the conference.
Heard's success this season has come as somewhat of a surprise to the laymen. But to his coaches and teammates, his success has been four years in the making. Heard began his athletic career four years ago as a defensive back on the football team and used the spring indoor and outdoor track seasons to improve his speed for the fall. However, this season is different, as Heard has not had to adjust his training schedule around spring football practice and has been able to focus on track for the longest stretch of his collegiate career.
Rice's success was not limited only to former football players: Sophomore Jason Colwick came in first the pole vault and freshman Clay Baker landed the top spot in the shot put. Colwick won the event by a little less than a foot, vaulting a total height of 18 feet and 0.5 inches. Colwick qualified for regional competition when he cleared a Rice-record 18-2.5 on April 5 at the Texas Relays.
Baker's effort in the shot put culminated with him launching the weighted ball two feet further than his previous best throw. His result was nearly two feet better than the second place distance, recorded by assistant coach and former Owl Luke Stadel (Brown '06). Even more impressively, Baker's throw was just .12 meters away from the NCAA regional-qualifying mark.
The next meet looming for the Owls is the C-USA Championship in El Paso, Texas, which will be held May 15-17. The contenders for the title look to be the University of Houston, Memphis University and host UTEP, with Rice finishing somewhere in the top four based on this year's past results.
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