Good news for Oregon State came Tuesday regarding the eligibility of its football players who are dabbling in track and field.
The university released a statement that said the NCAA and Pac-10 Conference has granted the Beavers’ appeal to permit qualifying athletes to compete in the 2010 Division I Indoor and Outdoor championships, and the Pac-10 Championships.
Oregon State has eight football players training outside of football workouts to represent the school in track and field competition. The original list of six (Jordan Bishop, Markus Wheaton, James Rodgers, Obum Gwacham, Keynan Parker and Rashaad Reynolds) has grown to include All-Pac-10 running back Jacquizz Rodgers and Kevan Walker.
“It’s exciting to be eligible to compete in three of the very biggest NCAA meets,” OSU track/cross country coach Kelly Sullivan said in the release. “The ruling doesn’t necessarily mean that we will have competitors in the events, but it certainly opens up some great possibilities and goals for these exceptional student-athletes.”
Sophomore-to-be wide receiver Jordan Bishop jumped 7 feet ½ inch in the high jump at the Feb. 13 Husky Indoor Classic meet in Seattle to capture the afternoon section. That met the NCAA provisional standard but it did not place Bishop on the descending order list of potential national championship qualifiers. The new ruling paves the way for Bishop, or any of his teammates, to aspire to compete at nationals.
The last OSU athlete to compete at the NCAA Championships was Karl Van Calcar, who won the 1988 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Sullivan told TrackFocus on Tuesday that he and the athletes had learned of the decision last Friday but that the Pac-10 asked that the announcement be delayed until the rest of the conference’s track coaches had been informed. Sullivan said he had received positive feedback from several of the coaches.
“What I hear is that most (track coaches) have virtually no working relationship at all with their head football coach,” Sullivan said. “Personally, it blows me away that we at OSU have a coach in Mike Riley that is so understanding.”
OSU’s male track athletes expect to compete at the UW Last Chance meet in Seattle on March 6, and there is growing anticipation that the group might compete at an outdoor meet this spring, but the details of that have not been worked out.
The gains made by OSU toward recognizing men’s track do not include a start date for officially recognizing the sport, or offering scholarships. For now, it is only open to a select few athletes already on scholarship with the football team.
And yet, the move made to allow Jordan Bishop, James Rodgers and others to compete in track continues to lead to more questions, and what-ifs. Could athletes from other sports moonlight in track during their offseasons?
It isn’t lost on Sullivan that Australian Rhys Murphy, a freshman on the Oregon State basketball team, won a U-20 national championship in the high jump, going 7-1 as a 16-year-old. Or that there are other football players with impressive credentials as high school throwers. Whether any of those storylines play out remain to be seen.
John Parks, who coaches Nike sprinter Ryan Bailey and has known Sullivan since their days together at Auburn, has been involved with the sprinters on the team, emailing workout ideas.
“John has been sending me ideas and insight about how Ryan’s training has been going,” Sullivan said. “He’s been helpful.”
Sullivan, hired in 2004 to resurrect a women’s distance program at the school, is suddenly fielding questions about All-American running back Jacquizz Rodgers.
The younger brother of James is eager to try out his speed in the 60-meter dash in Seattle.
“It’s hard to tell how he’s going to do,” Sullivan said of the 5-foot-7, 191-pound Jacquizz Rodgers. “But his first 20 is really quick. He’s fast out of the blocks.”
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Thanks you your good report.
Thanks you your good report.