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Solares, Walsh Lead Owls into First C-USA Track Championships
2/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Feb. 23, 2006
Houston -
Rice makes its debut in Conference USA indoor track and field competition Friday as the Owls travel across town to Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse for the first day of the C-USA championships.
Competition begins in the heptathlon at 9 am, and senior Ryan Walsh is among the favorites for gold in that event. Walsh has the best score in the league in the seven-eventer, boasting a 5,035-point effort at the Houston Indoor Invitational on Feb. 3.
The Owls will be looking for solid points in the 5000 meters, where Marcel Hewamudalige, the C-USA cross country runner-up, will run the first race of his indoor season. He will be joined by Charles Hampton and David Axel, who both recorded personal bests at the Tyson Invitational at Arkansas two weeks ago.
High jumper Omar Wright is ranked fifth in the conference going into the meet, and will look to improve on his season-best of 2.08/6-9.75, while long jumpers Jason Powell and Devon Fanfair are in the hunt for medals. Freshman Patrick O'Connor will be counted on to score points for the Owls in the 35-pound weight throw.
The other running event final Friday is the distance medley. Rice will be challenged by the foreign distance corps from UTEP, with the race likely coming down to the final half of the mile anchor leg.
Preliminaries on the track include the 400 meters, with Bahnsen Miller and Eric Spear trying to break into the top eight and a spot in the finals, and the 800, where Colby Keithan has a good chance of advancing to Saturday's final. Tyler Whitham will be the lone Rice entry in the 60 hurdles, an event where he holds the second fastest time in C-USA this season at 8.31.
Rice finished fifth in the WAC Indoor Championships last year.
Players Mentioned
