Roslov in Fifth After Day One of the SEC Heptathlon

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Boris Roslov opened up competition for the Razorbacks at the 2007 SEC Indoor Championships with the heptathlon. Seven events will be contested over two days.

“I wish he stayed healthy,” field events coach Dick Booth said. “He probably would have made (6-6). He twisted his ankle on two jumps before (6-5.5) and he came back and made it on a sore ankle. I was pleased with that.”

Roslov, with three events still to go on Saturday, opted to end his high jump competition after clearing 6-5.5 because of his sore ankle.

“There are some things about Boris, he’s a competitor.” Booth said. “You can’t coach heart and fight and desire. That’s either something you have or don’t have. He has it and he just needs to get really focused on the events that he’s not as good at.”

At the end of competition on Friday, Roslov sits in fifth place with 2,835 points. Jangy Add of Tennessee is leading the 13 heptathletes with 3,394 points.

“Tomorrow he has three more events,” Booth said. “If he just beats that ankle up completely there might not be a tomorrow. I’ll sacrifice a couple of raises tonight for a decent hurdles and pole vault tomorrow.”

Left on Roslov’s slate are the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run.

“Overall, I’m disappointed with the shot put,” Roslov said. “I think I can make it up tomorrow in the hurdles and the pole vault. I think I’ll be all right there. The high jump went really well.”

To begin the evening, Roslov finished first in his heat and second overall in the 60-meter dash. Running out of lane eight, Roslov eclipsed his previous personal-best time of 7.17, run earlier this season. Jangy Addy of Tennessee won the event with a time of 7.01 in heat one.

In the second event, the long jump, Roslov finished fourth with a leap of 22-8 coming on his final attempt. Addy of Tennessee won the event on his last attempt with a mark of 24-0.25.

The shot put proved to be Roslov’s struggle for the evening. After only marking a toss of 29-4.5, Roslov fell from fourth to seventh in the overall heptathlon standings. Addy kept his momentum going with his winning shot put of 55-1.5.

In the high jump, another strong event for Roslov, he finished second (6-5.5) behind Tennessee’s Chris Helwick (6-8) and made up some group on Addy of Tennessee who finished fourth (6-3.25).

“I wanted to make sure I kicked down the door for the rest of the guys tomorrow,” Roslov said. “I hope I didn’t disappoint the rest of the team and I hope I gave them a good start. I’m going to do my best tomorrow and see what comes out of it.”

Events will resume at 11 a.m. EST with the high jump. For complete results of the 2007 SEC Indoor Championships, visit www.ukathletics.com.