Preview: Men's T&F Looks to Score Early, Late at C-USA Championships

HOUSTON - Fans of the Rice men's track and field squad that wish to catch most of the scoring action for the Owls this weekend at the C-USA Indoor Championships will need to make sure that they tune in to the meet's live stream at the start of each broadcast this Saturday and Sunday and stick around for the final events each evening. Head coach Jon Warren's team's biggest point-scoring opportunities will come in some of the early events and then again in some of the final events each day.

"I am very excited to see what we do in the pole vault, both throws, the heptathlon and the mid-distance and distance races," Warren said. "I am very confident that Alex Slinkman and Thomas Pratt in the pole vault, Alex Topini and Elliot Metcalf in the distance medley relay and mile, and Corbett Fong and Keegan O'Connor (hepathlon) can answer this challenge. Throw in Hociel Landa in the 5K, all of our throwers – school record holder Lucas Ribeiro and Elian Ahmar in the shot put, and Michael Yow and Nick Hicks in the weight throw – and it will make for a very exciting weekend."

For those wishing to follow the minute-by-minute action online, Saturday kicks off with the first day of the heptathlon at 9 a.m. and concludes with the distance medley relay, scheduled for 8:40 p.m. The action returns on Sunday with the final three events in the heptathlon starting at 9 a.m., while the 4x400 relay is the final event on the track, set to go off at 4 p.m.

"We are entering missing a few important folks; the defending pole vault champion Natan Rivera, DMR champion anchor leg Matt Murray and freshman pole vault/heptathlon phenom Grant Levesque are all redshirting this season."

As such, Rice will lean on their field event athletes, multi-eventers, and mid-distance/distance runners to attempt to improve on their fifth-place finish from 2019.

Here's a look at the events that the Owls will contest in the 2020 C-USA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted at the Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.

SPRINTS
60 meters
Prelims: Saturday – 6:10 p.m.
Finals: Sunday – 2:10 p.m.
C-USA leader: Gabriel Nash (Charlotte), 6.77
Rice preview: Sophomore Thomas Pratt (7.07) has the quickest mark of the season for the Owls and is the only sprint entrant for the team. In his first indoor conference meet, he'll look to gain valuable experience competing against some of the top athletes in the nation.

MIDDLE-DISTANCE
800 meters
Prelims: Saturday – 6:45 p.m.
Finals: Sunday – 2:30 p.m.
C-USA leader: Brian Rono (MTSU), 1:49.82
Rice preview: Middle Tennessee, led by Rono, has the three quickest athletes entered in this event and will look to rack up major points here. Junior Jason Bugg comes into the meet with a personal best of 1:51 which, if he can reproduce that this weekend, will put him right in the mix.

MILE
Prelims: Saturday – 4:15 p.m.
Finals: Sunday – 1:10 p.m.
C-USA leader: Kigen Chemadi (UTEP), 4:00.46
Rice preview: UTEP's big guns in Chemadi and fellow senior Jacob Choge (4:00.82) come in seeded 1-2, about seven seconds clear of the rest of the field. But conference distance finals often turn into tactical affairs, putting the outcome more in doubt. Freshman Elliot Metcalf (4:09.85, seeded fourth) and junior Alex Topini (4:10.75, seeded sixth) offer solid scoring potential for the Owls here.

DISTANCE
3000 meters
Prelims: none
Finals: Sunday – 3:15 p.m.
C-USA leader: Kigen Chemadi (UTEP), 8:02.28
Rice preview: The Owls have three runners seeded in the top 12, bunched among a gaggle of athletes between 8:20-8:30 – meaning that a runner who can drop a few seconds can potentially pick off a number of places. Topini (8:22.67, seeded eighth), junior Hociel Landa (8:24.01, seeded 10th) and freshman Ace Castillo (8:26.32, seeded 12th) will look to put points on the board for Rice just prior to the 4x400 relay.

5000 meters
Prelims: none
Finals: Saturday – 7:55 p.m.
C-USA leader: Kigen Chemadi (UTEP), 13:36.82
Rice preview: Landa will toe the line in Birmingham in his first undercover 5000 of the year, but his personal best of 14:42.02 should put him in the mix with the top group as there is a large gap between the fourth seed (14:20.54) and the fifth seed (15:10.11). Likewise, senior Adolfo Carvalho (14:54.13 PR), sophomore Andrew Abikhaled (15:06.52) and senior Connor Meaux (15:28.27) will be competing in their first indoor 3.1-miler this year and will look to score for the Owls.

RELAYS
4x400
Prelims: none
Finals: Sunday – 4:00 p.m.
C-USA leader: Charlotte, 3:09.80
Rice preview: With no official times for the relay this spring, the Owls are a bit of a wildcard in this event. However, with quality athletes including sophomores Corbett Fong and Keegan O'Connor along with Chance Allshouse and Jason Bugg, the relay could end up challenging for a medal. As always with the final event of a two-day meet, the make-up of each team's relay squad can end up varying wildly from what was originally entered.

DISTANCE MEDLEY
Finals: Saturday – 8:40 p.m.
C-USA leader: MTSU, 9:37.85
Rice preview: While Middle Tennessee and Charlotte (9:58:38) are most likely are out of reach for the rest of the conference, Rice's 10:16.16 mark from the Houston G5-Super 22 Invitational puts them squarely in the mix for a medal. The Owls return Bugg and Metcalf from that squad and will plug in O'Connor and Topini to round out the foursome.

JUMPS
POLE VAULT
Finals: Saturday – 4:00 p.m.
C-USA leader: Keon Howe (Charlotte), 5.41 (17-9)
Rice preview: Sophomore's Thomas Pratt (17-0¾) and Alex Slinkman (16-10¾) give the Owls a solid 1-2 punch near the top of the conference form chart, seeded third and fourth. While there's a pretty good gap between Howe and the rest of the field, a similar gap exists behind Slinkman and the fifth seed. An additional clearance by Pratt or Slinkman – or possibly an important miss by one of the other top vaulters – and the Owls could put both on the podium.

THROWS
SHOT PUT
Finals: Sunday – 11:00 a.m.
C-USA leader: Terrell Adams (Charlotte), 18.34m (60-2)
Rice preview: Another opportunity for the Owls to score points with multiple athletes as Rice has three athletes seeded in the top nine of the conference. Leading the way is senior and new school record holder Lucas Ribeiro (58-10¼), who sits second on the form chart. Not far behind him is sophomore Elian Ahmar, whose 54-0½ is fourth-best this season, while freshman Chris Rivera sits ninth with a mark of 49-11¼. Also watch out for Michael Yow (49-0¼) and Sam Woodley (48-6¼), who sit a little outside the top 10 but just need to put together one good throw to jump up into the mix.

WEIGHT THROW
Finals: Saturday – 4:00 p.m.
C-USA leader: Karol Koncos (UTEP), 20.56m (67-5½)
Rice preview: As one of the first events in the meet – along with the pole vault, another solid event for the Owls – Rice could find itself amongst the team leaders in the early going of the meet with a strong performance here. The Owls are certainly setup well to do just that as Nick Hicks (63-1½) and Michael Yow (62-9½) rank second and third, about three feet clear of the fourth seed. Big points here, coupled with top performances in the vault, could put Rice in the early lead.

MULTI-EVENTS
HEPTATHLON
Day One: Saturday – 9:00 a.m.
Day Two: Sunday – 9:00 a.m.
C-USA leader: Gary Haasbroek (UTSA), 5712
Rice preview: As usual, Rice assistant coach Drew Fucci has a solid group of multi-competitors prepared for the conference championships. Corbett Fong comes in with a great opportunity to medal, seeded fourth – only 15 points behind third – with a 4727 mark. Keegan O'Connor sits sixth with 4209 points, while freshman Chance Allshouse will look to complete his first heptathlon as an Owl, with an eye towards picking up points in the team race.

-RiceOwls.com-

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