The Syracuse track and field team is used to being split up. On any given weekend, various parts of the team compete in different locales throughout the country. This weekend though, the team was separated by something other than a scheduled meet: federal airline regulations.
Several members of the SU team were scattered throughout the nation this weekend when federal aviation regulations forced American Airlines to ground and reroute thousands of flights.
En route to Athens, Ga., for the Bulldog Decathlon, Heptathlon and Spec Towns Invitational, the SU athletes were turned away from planes. Some were sent back to Syracuse to start over again, and others were diverted through other flights.
"Whenever you're flying, you're taking chances, but this is by far the biggest ordeal I've ever faced in traveling to a meet," assistant coach Enoch Borozinski said. "It's not the way you want to ideally go into a meet."
Despite the unfavorable travel conditions, the team was able to add three more NCAA regional qualifying times and three more provisional times, in what head coach Chris Fox described as a successful weekend.
The qualifying time total could have been higher, had it not been for the travel mess. Borozinski said some athletes were forced to miss their main events because of the error, opting instead to compete in a secondary event. Missing a main event at this point in the season has the potential to be devastating - there are a limited number of opportunities for competitors to qualify for various postseason meets.
Sheron Mark, a jumper for the Orange who was caught up in the flight debacle, landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport nine hours behind schedule, at 1 a.m. There she was picked up by Borozinski, who was on call throughout the night to transport members of the team to Athens.
The situation truncated Mark's sleep schedule. But it hardly showed the next day, as she parlayed the situation into two NCAA regional berths (long jump and triple jump), adding her name to an ever-growing list of SU athletes who have earned a spot at the meet.
"We went through a lot to get to Georgia," Mark said. "I was pretty happy with what I did, given the circumstance."
"It's hard for the kids because they're focused on doing one event," Borozinski said. "It's kind of a letdown, but there's not much you can do about it. It's really just a learning experience with traveling."
Sprint coach Dave Hegland, who booked the flights with American Airlines, said he received little warning about the changes to the team's flight plans, receiving a phone call Wednesday night. After informing Borozinski of the problem, Hegland attempted to have the flights rescheduled, but to no avail.
"The team made the best of the situation," Hegland said. "They did a good job of rolling with the punches."
Despite the setbacks incurred by the chaotic flight schedules, the team was able to rally and put forth an effort comparable to those it has shown so far during the outdoor season. Mark led the way in Athens with her two NCAA regional qualifications, and Jillian Drouin, Kaity Lambracht and Uhunoma Osazuwa all posted NCAA provisional qualifying times in the heptathlon.
Members of the team who traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. for the Tony Waldrop Open were able to avoid any hang-ups with American Airlines but had to endure stormy weather instead. Flings Owusu-Agyapong turned in the best finish of the meet, recording a first-place time in the women's 100-meter dash, but failed to secure an NCAA berth. Sprinter Aulton Kohn qualified for his second NCAA regional berth of the season with a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash.
The coaching staff was pleased with the results of the meets, which it considered to be critical elements of the outdoor season. Borozinski and Hegland were both impressed with the finishes and qualifications earned by the team in the face of the flight problems and weather difficulties.
"Everything went well as far as performances are concerned," Borozinski said. "Even if all of the issues with the flights would never have happened, I would have been satisfied."
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