KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State junior Greggmar Swift is less than 24 hours away from his first Olympic competition and the first competition by a member of the Indiana State track & field team at the Summer Games.
Swift will compete in the fourth heat of the 110 meter hurdles at 5:31 a.m. (ET). The competition will be aired by NBC on a tape-delayed basis during one of three time slots Tuesday (10-10:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m.-12 p.m., or 12:30-1 p.m.). The action can be caught live on NBC’s Olympic web site at www.nbcolympics.com.
The top three finishers in each heat plus the six fastest times will advance to the semifinals which will be run at 12:15 p.m. (ET) Wednesday. The finals are scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (ET).
“Greggmar has been training really hard,” John McNichols, Indiana State men’s track & field coach, said. McNichols is in London to support the Sycamore athlete.
“I am ready, ready, ready,” Swift said Monday. “I finished my last training session and I feel really confident.”
Swift, representing his native Barbados, will run in lane one which is not a favorable spot for athletes.
“I think he has the ability to get to the semifinals and from there anything can happen,” McNichols said before he left for London.
Swift has two countrymen also in the competition. Ryan Brathwaite will run in the fifth heat with Shane Brathwaite in the sixth and final heat.
The Sycamore has had a busy summer in preparation for the Summer Games after earning a spot on the Barbados National Team with a second place finish at the Barbados National Track & Field Championships with a time of 13.52 seconds. Ryan Brathwaite won the national title with Shane Brathwaite third. Swift also earned a bronze medal at the 2012 North America Central America Caribbean Under 23 Championships (13.56) and was second at the 2012 Flanders Cup in Belgium with a time of 13.81.
He earned Second Team All-American honors with a 10th place finish at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and won the 110 meter hurdles at the 2012 MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with the third fastest time in school history of 13.49.
London Olympic website: http://www.london2012.com/
