Men's Track and Field at NCAA Indoor Championships
3/10/2006 12:00:00 AM
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.??The Alabama men’s track and field team fought hard but came up just short on Friday at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville. The Tide had a pair of ninth place finishes and a tenth place finish and was well on their way to an All-America finish in the distance medley relay before suffering a fall.
“To finish ninth, ninth and tenth in this competition means you are the ninth best and tenth best in the country,” Alabama head coach Harvey Glance said. “But you also want to do well in the meet. The kids fought very hard. I’ve been here when we’ve had breaks, but we just didn’t have any today.”
The highlight of the day for Alabama was LaChristopher Lewis earning All-America in the 400-meter dash with a tenth place finish and a personal best 46.71.
SEC Indoor 800-meter champion Peter Etoot finished third in his heat with a time of 1:50.47, but failed to advance final on Saturday after getting boxed in down the front stretch and having another competitor fall in front of him.
Chauncey Harris had a busy day for Alabama competing in both the 60m and the 200m. Harris posted a 6.70 in the 60-meter dash for a ninth place finish, just .01 short of qualifying for the finals. Harris also finished third in his heat in the 200m with a time of 21.31.
In the distance medley relay, the Tide was moving up, charging from seventh but Lewis suffered a fall in the turn after getting clipped by another competitor.
“We are inches away from having a great meet,” Glance said. “The guys fought hard and you can’t fault their effort. Everyone gave it everything they had. When you get to the championships, though, you just can’t make mistakes. But the guys came to fight and they did a good job of representing themselves.”
The Tide will compete Saturday night in the 4x400m relay.
“We will come back tomorrow and run a good race in the 4x400,” Glance said. “We want to leave the meet on a positive note.”
