Burley and Chaput win East Regionals

Of the nine Penn men's track athletes that competed at the NCAA regionals last week, only two advanced to the NCAA Championships.

For senior All-American Sam Burley and junior Brian Chaput, their first-place finishes in the 800 meters and javelin throw, respectively, came as no surprise.

Chaput entered the NCAA Regionals having won three consecutive javelin events -- the 2003 Penn Relays, Outdoor Heptagonal Championships and the IC4As.

"I think people expected us to advance," Burley said. "It was nice to come in first, though."

Indeed, Burley will be making his third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships.

While the 2003 Penn graduate earned several first-place finishes over the course of his career at Penn, there is one event that Burley has never won -- the NCAA Championships.

In his sophomore year, the Cheyenne, Wyo. native finished in third place and as a junior, he moved up one spot to finish as the runner-up in second place.

This year, Burley hopes to move up one more spot.

"I'd like to win," he said. "I've gotten second, third, All-America. I've done pretty much everything else possible but win."

For Burley, a strong showing at the NCAA Championships could help him to secure a shoe contract and pursue his dream of running professionally.

"Depending on my performance at the NCAA Championships, I'll either sign with a shoe company and go run in Europe or I'll get a real job, working in a lab somewhere," Burley, an environmental science major, said. "I'd rather go run in Europe."

At Penn, Burley earned a reputation as being both an outstanding athlete and an unselfish teammate.

At the 2002 HEPS, Burley competed in the 800, 1500, and 4x400 meters events, sacrificing the opportunity to dominate his specialty middle distance event, the 800m, for the sake of the team.

While Burley noted that the team was slightly disappointed that only two Penn athletes advanced to the NCAA Championships -- before the NCAA Regionals, Burley said that up to five Penn athletes could advance -- he noted that "a lot of the people that didn't make it are young, so they have another year."

Seniors Brian Abram and George Witter finished 15th and 27th, respectively, in the 400 meters intermediate hurdles. Junior Matt Wedge finished in 13th place in the 110m high hurdle race and sophomore Nolan Tully and Steve Hayes came 29th in the 3000m steeplechase.

Junior Adam Chubb placed 11th in the high jump, while freshman Jim Malazia finished 18th in the javelin.

For Burley, however, this will be his final chance to secure the only major victory that has managed to elude him.

A first place finish at the NCAA Championships would be a truly fitting finish to Burley's career at Penn and a perfect segue to his professional career.

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