Kyle Heath was sitting in class a few weeks ago, not paying attention to the lecture going on in front of him. Instead he was daydreaming about track and field. A member of the Syracuse track and field team’s distance squad, Heath normally runs the 5K or the 1,500-meter run. But Heath had a different event on his mind: the steeplechase.

Heath, now a junior at SU, ran the event once in high school and had not competed in it again since. Heath was curious how he could perform in the event and asked SU head coach Chris Fox if he could compete in it at the Larry Ellis Invitational in Princeton, N.J., the weekend of April 20. Fox initially said no, but after some consideration, changed his mind and decided to give Heath a chance.

Heath won the steeplechase in Princeton, shattering the 26-year-old school record by nearly 20 seconds. He plans to repeat his success Sunday when he and his teammates compete at the Big Red Invitational Sunday in Ithaca, N.Y.

‘I really had my doubts,’ Fox said. ‘He’s a natural; he really put himself in a position to do great things that wouldn’t have happened for him in the 5K or the 1,500.’

Because the steeplechase is the only technical event that distance runners encountered, Fox did not think Heath would do well because of his lack of practice – never mind break a school record.

Heath’s time of 8:56.92 qualified him for the NCAA regional meet on May 25. This weekend Heath will compete in the open 1,500 meter run and run half of the steeplechase. He will drop out halfway through the race so he does not exhaust himself before the Big East championship meet on May 4. However, he will run the beginning of the race at a harder pace so he can become accustomed to running an 8:40 pace in the event. Heath plans to run the steeplechase at the Big East and IC4A meets in the next two weeks.

During Heath’s race on Saturday, Fox actually thought he had started the race off too quickly and anticipated him tiring out midway through.

‘By the time Kyle hit the third lap, we knew he had found a great event for himself,’ Fox said. ‘This changes the rest of the season for him.’

The steeplechase is 3,000 meters – seven and a half laps on a standard outdoor track – but the runners have to jump over four barriers and one 12-foot water pit per lap. Heath’s training has not changed much, except after his distance workouts he does some drills on the hurdles or jumps over the sandpit in order to simulate the water pit he jumps over in the race. Fox is making him refine his technique as well.

‘I never thought I would be competitive on the college level in the steeplechase,’ Heath said. ‘I never expected to go that fast, but now I think I have a legitimate shot at doing some great things at NCAAs.’Fox was impressed with the athletes that Heath beat in his first race in the event. He beat out Princeton’s Bryan Sharkey, who ran an 8:59.16, and Georgetown’s Brian Dalpiaz, who ran a 9:01.75. Heath took the lead with three laps left and never faltered.

‘He is going to be one of the favorites in the steeplechase,’ Fox said. ‘He beat some quality guys, and it was an extraordinary time, if he drops two to three seconds he will be able to compete at a national level.’

Published on April 26, 2007 at 12:00 pm