PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Nine members of the Rutgers men’s and women’s track and field teams will travel to Greensboro, N.C. for the 2009 NCAA East Regional on Friday, May 29, and Saturday, May 30, at Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T State. Seven Scarlet Knights will compete for the men’s squad while a pair will represent the women’s side.
The top five finishers in each event will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championship running June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. The remaining competitors who finish in the top 12 will have the opportunity to earn an at-large bid to the championship.
For the men’s squad, two Scarlet Knights will compete in three events on the track while five other athletes will participate in three field events. Reigning BIG EAST and IC4A Outdoor Champion Bruce Owens (Wenonah, N.J.) will run in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. The senior added to his already impressive campaign, taking the IC4A title in his last competition, giving him two postseason medals in the 200-meter.
Freshman Monroe Kearns (Jackson, N.J.) will run the 800-meter at the NCAA East Regional after recording a qualifying time of 1:50.24 in the preliminaries of the event at the IC4A Championships.
In the field events, RU will be represented in the high jump, pole vault and javelin throw.
Freshman Adam Bergo (Plainfield, N.J.), the BIG EAST Champion in the indoor high jump, will take a crack at the high jump at the East Regional. Bergo is coming off a pair of runner-up finishes at both the conference and IC4A Outdoor Championships.
Senior Brian Duggan (Staten Island, N.Y.) will take to the pole vault after clearing a qualifying height at the IC4A Championship as he finished third overall at the meet.
Rutgers’ stellar trio of javelin throwers will also make their bids for an appearance at the NCAA Championship. Junior Jeremy Pennino (Watchung, N.J.), senior Brian Burkhardt (Dallas, Pa.) and sophomore Christopher Bradley (Nutley, N.J.) each advanced to the NCAA East Regional. The three javelin throwers have finished 1-2-3, respectively on two occasions, including the BIG EAST Championship.
Pennino, who has put together an outstanding season so far with victories at the Penn Relays and conference championship, leads the group after placing second at the IC4A Championships with a qualifying mark of 66.46 meters. Burkhardt posted his qualifying distance at the BIG EAST Championship where he placed second behind Pennino.
Senior Jessica Bandy (West Keansburg, Pa.) and freshman Alex Kelly (Florham Park, N.J.) will each compete in the women’s javelin. The pair recorded NCAA qualifying marks in the season opening meet at USF on March 20 and have gone on to enjoy a solid season with several finishes in the top three. Kelly highlighted her campaign thus far with a victory in the javelin at the prestigious Penn Relays.
Live stats of the event can be found at http://www.ncaa.com/loc/ncaa-c-otrack-ncat-loc.html.
