University at Buffalo
NCAA Championships
UB Shot Put Pair Headed to NCAA Indoor Championships
3/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo will send two shot putters to this weekend's NCAA National Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, TX as the national qualifiers list was released late Monday.
Rob Golabek will compete in the men's shot put competition while Becky O'Brien is slated to compete in the women's event. The men's competition is scheduled to begin at 7:50 pm (ET) on Friday, March 11 with the women's event going at 4:45 pm on Saturday, March 12.
Golabek and O'Brien both hold the UB indoor shot put records, set earlier this season. Golabek established the mark four times during the 2011 season with the current record standing at 62-0.50 (18.91m) set at the Penn State Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup on February 5. Golabek went on to win the Mid-American Conference shot put title at the conference meet in Bowling Green, OH with a throw of 61-0 (18.59m), winning the event by more than three feet. He was named the MAC's Field Athlete of the Week three times during the season.
O'Brien automatically qualified for the NCAA national field when she set the UB and MAC women's shot put titles with her throw of 56-1.25 (17.10m) at the Penn State National Meet on January 29. O'Brien went on to win the league title two weeks ago throwing 54-9.25 (16.69m) to break the meet record and win the event by 8.5 feet. O'Brien was named the MAC's Most Outstanding Field Performer at the meet.
Golabek's appearance in the national field is the first time in school history that a UB men's athlete has competed at the indoor national championships. O'Brien is the fourth UB woman and third shot putter to reach the indoor meet. Kristy Woods, who redshirted the 2011 indoor season, finished 13th at last year's championships while Sarah Vance was 15th in the 2007 meet. Laura Olson was the first UB women's athlete to compete in the indoor meet as she finished 14th in the pole vault at the 2004 championships.
