Delayed gratification: UW advances four at NCAAs
June 11, 2009 | Men's Track & Field
Tom Petty claims that waiting is the hardest part, but Ryan Gasper is likely to disagree after Wednesday became Thursday on the opening day of the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
In reality, even after sitting through a three-hour delay, the running is still the hardest part.
The delay brought on by inclement weather that rolled through Fayetteville around 7 p.m. pushed the finish of the championships' opening day well into Thursday morning. Gasper was one of those affected by the break, but he did his best to not let the change in plans affect his performance in the semifinals of the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships
postid=2149"> --> Blog | Live Results | code=ncaa&media=129515"> --> Video | M-Heat Sheets | W-Heat Sheets
'It actually worked out really well for me because I had a lot of time to really concentrate on the race and I wasn't rushed into it,' Gasper said. '(Assistant coach) Mick (Byrne) and I were talking during the storm and he told me that, either way, I had to be ready to go.
'You can't let stuff like that bother you.'
The junior, two-time defending Big Ten Conference champion in the event, clocked in at 8:44.32 to finish runner-up in his heat of the steeplechase and automatically advance to Friday's final round.
After laying back in the pack for much of the race, Gasper put himself in the mix at the front of the field as the leaders hit the bell lap.
'Everyone was there with three laps to go and I knew I was going to have to really close,' he said. 'We've been doing a lot of workouts where we really close down, and I think that helped me out.'
Now, Gasper is on to his first steeplechase final in his second attempt at the national meet. He was 23rd at last year's NCAA championships after failing to advance out of the semis.
'I think that was the biggest thing, making that jump,' he said. 'It's another stepping stone to move on to the next level.
'And, when things are disappointing, you always want to make up for them. '
Gasper was one of three to advance for the UW men, as sophomore Zach Beth ran his way into the semifinals of the men's 800 meters with a personal-best run and another sophomore, Mickey DeFilippo, went to new heights to advance to the final of the men 's pole vault.
Beth turned in his third-consecutive performance under the 1:49 threshold, as he clocked a personal-best 1:48.57 to finish fourth in his heat. The top three finishers in each section qualified automatically for the semis, meaning Beth had to wait for the fourth and final prelims heat to conclude to see if he would move on.
His time stuck, and he's on to the next round, which is set for 7:25 p.m. Thursday.
'It was probably the most nervous I've been before a race all year, and we didn't get to do any strides beforehand so my legs were stiff,' Beth said. 'But I came out and ran a PR and was able to get in, so it's a relief.'
He was second-fastest through 400 meters with a split of 53.37 and was running fifth or sixth with 100 meters to go before moving his way into a battle with Iowa's Adam Hairston for third.
Hairston out-leaned him to finish in 1:48.53 and take the automatic spot by four hundredths of a second. Chris Gowell of Baylor took the heat in 1:47.87 ahead of Northern Iowa's Tyler Mulder, who clocked in at 1:48.00.
'I was third place with 50 to go and I kept telling myself that I couldn 't slow down and let someone get me, but that's what happened,' Beth said. 'I was rolling at the end and I'm pretty confident going into tomorrow now.'
Ryan Foster of Penn State was the fastest qualifier for the semifinals at 1:47.57.
DeFilippo also was forced to play the waiting game as meet officials attempted to determine who would advance out of the dual flights that competed simultaneously in separate pits.
In the end, the sophomore tied for 11th with his lifetime-best clearance of 17 feet, 2 3/4 inches.
That came after he cleared the opening height of 16-2 3/4 on his second attempt and then made a first-attempt clearance at the next bar, 16-8 3/4. He then took two attempts to get over the bar that became the cut-off for advancement and was unsuccessful in three tries at 17-6 1/2, which would have surpassed UW's school record.
Five competitors cleared 17-6 1/2, led by No. 1 qualifier Jason Colwick of Rice, who took the top spot based on total misses.
Sophomore Robert Dehn was the Badgers' other competitor Wednesday, and his throw of 211 feet, 5 inches was not enough to advance out of the qualifying round in the javelin. Dehn finished 16th.
Jorgensen advances to 5,000 meters final
Senior Gwen Jorgensen, the lone competitor for the UW women's team on the opening day of the NCAA championships, advanced to the finals of the women's 5,000 meters with her run in the semifinals.
Also delayed as a result of the inclement weather, Jorgensen ran a time of 16:33.78 to finish ninth in her semifinal section.
She will compete in the final at 8:15 p.m. Friday.
The Badgers continue competition at the NCAA championships on Thursday, beginning with junior Nate Larkin in the preliminaries of the men's 110-meter hurdles at 5:50 p.m.
Also competing Thursday are Beth in the semifinals of the 800 meters (7:25 p.m.), juniors Jack Bolas and Craig Miller in the semifinals of the 1,500 meters (8:10 p.m.) and junior Hanna Grinaker in the women's 10,000 meters (8:55 p.m.).
