Spring Break
The Daily OrangeTrack | Difficult stretch of postseason meets looms for Syracuse's top athletes
By McGhee Cost
Posted: 5/7/08, 7:58 PM EST Section: Sports
Aulton Kohn isn't a flashy guy. The Syracuse senior is known by his teammates as an experienced veteran and winner of five Big East sprint championships but not as a showboat after victory.
That changed Sunday when Kohn won the 100-meter dash, the only sprint title he had never captured in his years at Syracuse, at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Villanova, Pa.
"The emotions got the best of me this time around," Kohn said. "I'm normally not that character who chants and jumps around, but I celebrated a lot after the 100."
Kohn's emotional finish was the exclamation point on a big weekend for the Orange track and field team. Though the team failed to surpass its overall standing of ninth overall from the indoor season, seven athletes recorded all-Big East performances, and three athletes, Kyle Heath, Jillian Drouin and Kohn, captured individual championships.
Kohn, Sosa and several other members of the team who have qualified for ECAC, IC4A, and NCAA meets are gearing for another month of competition.
"We never really achieve our goals with just one meet like the Big East championship because our goals are really high," Fox said. "There's always another meet, always a bigger meet."
Ramon Sosa's time of 13.85 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles earned him all-Big East honors but wasn't enough to defend his title in the event. Since making light contact with a hurdle earlier in the year, Sosa's season has been a struggle to recover in time for championship season. He qualified for NCAA regional competition last weekend and hopes to regain his status as a championship level sprinter in his final events.
"Everybody knew that this was the meet, this was the time to perform," Sosa said. "They came out and did well. I'm proud of them."
Fox doesn't want his best athletes to grow complacent in the wake of strong Big East finishes. While celebration is in order for such individual victories, the team's training regimen will quickly fall back into place and remain every bit as rigorous as ever, if not more, in the weeks of the championship season.
That changed Sunday when Kohn won the 100-meter dash, the only sprint title he had never captured in his years at Syracuse, at the Big East Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Villanova, Pa.
"The emotions got the best of me this time around," Kohn said. "I'm normally not that character who chants and jumps around, but I celebrated a lot after the 100."
Kohn's emotional finish was the exclamation point on a big weekend for the Orange track and field team. Though the team failed to surpass its overall standing of ninth overall from the indoor season, seven athletes recorded all-Big East performances, and three athletes, Kyle Heath, Jillian Drouin and Kohn, captured individual championships.
Kohn, Sosa and several other members of the team who have qualified for ECAC, IC4A, and NCAA meets are gearing for another month of competition.
"We never really achieve our goals with just one meet like the Big East championship because our goals are really high," Fox said. "There's always another meet, always a bigger meet."
Ramon Sosa's time of 13.85 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles earned him all-Big East honors but wasn't enough to defend his title in the event. Since making light contact with a hurdle earlier in the year, Sosa's season has been a struggle to recover in time for championship season. He qualified for NCAA regional competition last weekend and hopes to regain his status as a championship level sprinter in his final events.
"Everybody knew that this was the meet, this was the time to perform," Sosa said. "They came out and did well. I'm proud of them."
Fox doesn't want his best athletes to grow complacent in the wake of strong Big East finishes. While celebration is in order for such individual victories, the team's training regimen will quickly fall back into place and remain every bit as rigorous as ever, if not more, in the weeks of the championship season.
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