Heard sprints to top 20 in country

By Brody Rollins     4/17/08 7:00pm

Each week this spring it seems as though a different member of the men's track team jumps, throws or runs into the spotlight. And this week was no exception. Senior Bubba Heard found the bright lights when he finished first in the 200 meters at the Texas Southern Quadrangular with a personal best time of 20.93 seconds. His time was .36 seconds faster than the second-place finisher, fellow senior Gary Anderson, who clocked a time of 21.29.Heard received the Conference USA male track athlete of the week award on Wednesday, but that was perhaps the least important of his accolades. His time placed him first in the conference and put him in the top 20 in the nation. Heard became the first Rice athlete to break 21 seconds in competition since Bryan Bronson (Wiess '95) did so in 1995, when he ran the event in 20.61.

Head coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) said he was more than pleased with Heard's performance, but thinks the senior could possibly go further in the near future.

"Going under 21 is outstanding - you're getting into some rarified air," Warren said. "It was really a solid run and I think he can get even faster at conference."

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For Heard, this spring has been the culmination of four years of hard work on the track as well as the football field, where he played defensive back for the Owls. However, not until this spring has he experienced so much success.

In the C-USA Indoor Championships on March 1, Heard finished second in the 200 with a time of 21.64. This had to do with the fact that, for the first time, Heard has not had to coordinate spring football practice with track. His further training has resulted in a drop of over .7 seconds since that race in early March.

Heard has found success in other events as well. Two weeks ago he qualified for NCAA regionals in the 400 with a time of 46.92 after having run the event only once before.

While it looks as though Heard will focus on the 200 for the conference championships and regionals, the coaching staff is still uncertain if he will compete in the 400, only because of his lack of experience in the race.

The coaching staff will have another chance to view Heard and the rest of the Owls when the team returns to action this weekend at the Arkansas Invitational hosted by the University of Arkansas. Rice will then return home to host the Rice Twilight Meet on Friday, April 24. Headlining Rice's competition will be held at the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium, and will last from 6-8:30 p.m.

Rice had success in other events this past weekend, recording a total of five other first-place finishes aside from Heard's. Rice performed well in the jumping events, as senior Devon Fanfair grabbed first in the long jump with a mark of 23 feet, 9.5 inches. The jump was a personal-best for Fanfair and also gave him the top mark in the conference. However, Fanfair will likely continue to focus on the triple jump, an event in which he could attain All-American status.

Senior Omar Wright matched his season best mark of 6-10.75 in the high jump en route to finishing first.

Sophomore Chris Kato and freshman John Berens both recorded their first wins of the year. Berens took the triple jump with a mark of 46-1.5 and Kato won the pole vault after clearing 15-1. Rice also finished first in the 4x100 meter relay with a time of 41.04.

Freshman James Casey, best known as one of the football team's top receivers, tried to transfer some of his magic to javelin, where he competed for the first time all season. Casey managed a throw of 169-9, good enough for second place.

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