Since arriving at Syracuse last year, sophomore distance runner Dan Busby has qualified for four Big East championships. But before this weekend, he had yet to qualify for an NCAA regional event.

Busby did just that Friday at the Larry Ellis Invitational, earning a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:09.14. At the beginning of the season Busby had his sights set on grabbing an invite to the NCAA regionals after being shut out last season.

Junior hurdler Terry Marshall also tallied an NCAA regional qualifying time with a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (13.99 seconds). SU now has eight athletes qualified for the regionals, which take place May 30 and 31.

Earlier this year, during the indoor season, Busby placed 13th in the Big East championships in the 5,000-meter and failed to improve upon his time for last season. Unfortunately for Busby, this did not result in team points, which only go to the top eight finishers in each event.

That race lingers in Busby’s mind as he approaches the Big East championships, which are May 3.

‘I would like score at the Big East this year,’ Busby said. ‘I don’t know what I would have to place to get that, maybe in the top eight in the event. But that’s what I really want to do.’

Although he is proud of achieving his initial goal of posting an NCAA time, Busby has not set expectations for the event and views it as just an opportunity to race against the best in the nation.

Marshall, like Busby, seemed focused on the upcoming Big East championships.

‘There are mostly championship meets left,’ Marshall said. ‘The Big East is in two weeks. Right now focus on a fast time in the Big East. Try to come in first, aim high, be a champion, be the top team in the Big East and just trying to go as fast as I can.’

Marshall’s time was somewhat surprising, as he dedicates most of his training to the 400-meter hurdles. He has qualified for the NCAA regionals in that event every season since arriving at Syracuse yet with only a few opportunities remaining he has yet to do so this season.

‘Yeah it would definitely be a disappointment (if he fails to qualify for the 400),’ SU sprint coach Dave Hegland said. ‘We’ve been talking about 400-hurdles for three years. I don’t think with one good race in another event we are ready to say, ‘Scrap all those goals we found a new toy.”

The reason why Marshall took on the event was to help him with his times in the 400-hurdles and have the ability to grab more points at the conference championship.

‘It was a really breakthrough performance for him.’ Hegland said. ‘That’s only his second meet ever in college running the 110 hurdles. In his freshman year and his sophomore year we didn’t run those at all, only the 400s. It was huge for him.’

Besides Busby and Marshall, five SU athletes qualified for the Big East championships during the weekend.

Marshall’s performance even grabbed him accolades on a smaller scale than the NCAA level. His career best times earned him the outstanding runner of the week honor from SU’s head coach Chris Fox. Still, Fox hopes Marshall qualifies for the NCAA’s in the 400-hurdles as well.

‘Terry had a great meet,’ Fox said. ‘He ran two great times because in the semifinals he ran as fast as he’d ever run and then came back in the finals was unbelievable with the 13.99.’

hscrowle@syr.edu

Published on April 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm