BATON ROUGE, La. -Former Bobcat Byron Gibson competed in his first NCAA Regional meet as a hurdler/sprinter for the Alabama Crimson Tide this weekend, after transferring from Ohio following his freshman year.
This weekend's meet at LSU marked the first time Gibson met up with his former team, with Bobcats Jericka Duncan, Foli James and Boone Troyer also competing at Mideast Regionals.
Gibson finished 14th in the 110-meter hurdles and led the 400-relay team that finished 17th. His time of 14.15 seconds in the hurdles matched a personal record set this year.
His absence left a hole in the hurdles for Ohio this year. He had set a school record in the indoor 60 hurdles and had finished third in last year's 110 hurdles at Mid-American Conference Championships.
It's tough to see good guys like that leave
Ohio coach Clay Calkins said. I have nothing bad to say about him -those decisions have to be met sometimes and that's why we released him with no consequence.
Gibson said though he transferred for various reasons such as a warmer climate and a bigger program, he is thankful for the time he spent at Ohio.
I wanted to go to Alabama out of high school but my times weren't fast enough
he said. I did really well at OU
and my times got better
and I PRed in the hurdles a while into my season at OU. I can't take anything away from that because that's where my beginnings at Alabama started.
