Q&A With Men's Track Coach Bill Carson
February 28, 2003 | Men's Track and Field
ECUpirates.com: With the C-USA Indoor Championships coming this weekend, what are your expectations for your team?
Carson: We are realistically going to take a shot for one of the top three spots. There are a lot of toss-up points that will be dependent a lot on the lane you draw. In the indoor championships on a flat track, which is death to run, the lane you draw in the trials in the 200 and 400, if you draw land two or four, the people that draw five and six are going to have a decided advantage on you. A lot of what is going to happen in this track meet is going to be very dependent on the lanes we draw in the 200 and 400. I still think if all comes out right we have a good shot for third place. I have scored it out and have Houston winning at this point and TCU in second, but it is very close. Some of those same things that I am talking about could effect Houston and TCU. It is going to be close between Houston and TCU for first and between us, Charlotte and Marquette for third, fourth and fifth. We are going to score well in the 200 and 400 dash and in the 800m and we will do alright. We are going to hold our own, score well in the weight throw, distance medley, and 4x400, so we have events where we draw our points, too.
ECUpirates.com: What has been the biggest surprise so far this season?
Carson: The consistency. We have done well this season; every meet we have competed in, we have competed pretty well. We had several scored meets and were second at New York [Elite Invitational, Jan. 24] by 1.5 points and could have easily turned it around. We got fifth at Penn State, but that was a good effort. We won the 4x400 but couldn't make up the difference to bring us up. We were fifth out of 11 teams, and it was a good meet. We had a field house record, set a school record in weight throw, and a school record in 60 meters. In general the consistency of the team has been the most pleasant thing--I won't say surprise, per se--and we have competed quite well when we have gone out.
ECUpirates.com: Has anyone's individual performance exceeded your expectations so far?
Carson: Julien Dunkley ran a 6.63, after 6.67 last year and has gone under that twice; he has had a really good indoor season. One young man that has done very well is Jeffrey Walls. Jeffrey has run well in 200 and very well in 4x400m, leading it off, he has turned into a very fine leadoff leg. He has a bit of a leg problem with his shin, not a stress fracture, but close too it. We are going to limit what we do with Jeffrey in conference and these next couple of meets. We are just going to use him in the 4x400, but I know he could place in the 200 if we did use him, so we will lose points there.
ECUpirates.com: Who else are you looking to perform well at the conference meet?
Carson: Two other kids that will do well are Kyle MacKenzie in the mile and anchoring the distance medley, and Ricky Bell running the 800 leg on the medley and the open 800. Those kids will be in the top five in their events, and the distance medley should win. De'Von Carter should win the weight throw. He has had a good season, breaking the school record about four times.
ECUpirates.com: How do you feel the newcomers are handling collegiate athletics?
Carson: They have handled it very wel. We have Ronnie Pollard in the top eight of the conference in the hurdles as a newcomer. Reggie Williams is eighth in the 200 and Jeff Walls would have been seventh, but we aren't running him. Renaldo Isaac is ranked ninth in the conference in the long jump. Derrick Carr in the triple jump is ranked seventh and I think he will score. So we are picking up some points slowly in the field events. We are trying to increase are presence in the weight events, shot disc, weight throw and hammer, we are working on that. Also we trying to increase our presence in long jump and triple jump, so we are working on this in our recruiting as well. Isaac and Carr are both in the top eight. Darrus Cofield is a very good newcomer, has been anchoring our relay tremedously, and I look for him to really run a good anchor leg at Iowa State and at the conference.
ECUpirates.com: What are your chances at nationals?
Carson: If we what we planned works out at the Iowa Last Chance Meet [Mar. 8], our 4x400 should be in the nationals. Also, B.J. Henderson has a shot in the 400m and Domonick Richmond isn't far off. Julien Dunkley is already in nationals; he is fourth in the nation in the 60m and that is not going to change much. He will defend his place at the conference this week.
