Track and Field to Send School Record 12 Athletes to National Championships
June 2, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The NCAA Committee announced the accepted entries for the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Tuesday afternoon and the University of Louisville men's and women's teams secured eight at-large bids and will have a school record 12 athletes competing in Fayetteville, Ark. on June 10-13 at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas. Both teams will be represented by a school record six athletes in five different events for a total of seven bids each. "This is the largest contingent that we have taken to the national championships," said U of L head coach Ron Mann. "We are excited and looking forward to our experience in Fayetteville." The Cardinal women set a school record for athletes and bids, while tying the number of events (five) competed in a year ago. On the men' side, this is the second most athletes, events and bids all-time, with the previous high coming in 2007 when the Cards sent six athletes in six events for a total of 10 total bids. After capturing their second consecutive BIG EAST Championship and matching a school record with an eighth place finish at the Mideast Regional, the Cardinal women will be led by junior Jere' Summers who earned automatic bids in the discus and shot put at regionals. Summers won the discus title with a throw of 186-05 (56.81m), which ranks no. 6 in the NCAA. She also finished runner-up in the shot put with a distance of 54-01 (16.48m), good for no. 10 on the NCAA list. The Oakland, Calif. native earned her first ever bid to the national championships in the discus, second in the shot put and fourth overall. Summers became just the third All-American ever for the Cards after finishing ninth in the shot put a year ago. She also finished 20th in the hammer throw. Joining Summers with an automatic bid was junior Tarah McKay who earned her second consecutive trip to the national championships in the 1,500-meter run after placing fourth at regionals. McKay's season best time of 4:22.06 ranks no. 24. She finished 20th at last year's NCAA Championships.
Sophomore Chinwe Okoro and freshman Khadija Abdullah join Summers in the shot put competition and will be making their first appearance at the national championships via at-large bids. They rank no. 20 and 23 with marks of 52-08 (16.05m) and 52-02 (15.90m), respectively. Rounding out the list of at-large representatives are junior Rachel Gehret in the high jump and senior Seidre Forde in the triple jump. Gehret's ranks no. 19 with a cleared height of 5-11.25 (1.81m), while Forde's season best leap of 42-11.75 (13.10m) ranks no. 24. Both athletes will be making their second straight appearance following a 23rd place finish by Gehret in the high jump and a withdrawal from Forde in the triple jump due to an aggravation of a preexisting leg injury. For the men, redshirt junior Tone Belt leads the way with two automatic bids in the high jump and long jump. Belt finished runner-up in the high jump at regionals with a season best height of 7-03.25 (2.22m), earning a share of the Mideast Regional record. His mark is no. 9 in the NCAA this season. The three-time All-American finished fourth in the long jump this past weekend with a leap of 25-04 (7.72m), which will carry over as the no. 16 best in the NCAA. This marked the third time Belt has qualified for the national championships in both events. The Berkeley Springs, W.Va. native was the 2007 NCAA Champion in the long jump. Senior Cory Thorne also earned an automatic bid to the national championships after winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase at regionals with a school and facility record setting time of 8:36.98. Thorne earned his second trip to the national championships in the event and will enter ranked no. 2 in the nation. Thorne finished 21st in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2007. Sophomore Matt Hughes will join Thorne in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after receiving an at-large bid. Hughes will make his debut at the national championships with the no. 14 ranked time in the country, 8:47.36. In the discus, sophomore Josh Greenwald and senior Andrew Hackney picked up at-large bids and will also be making their first appearance at the national championships. Greenwald will go into the competition ranked no. 16 in the NCAA with his season best mark of 189-10 (57.86m), while Hackney enters at no. 17 after throwing a season and personal best 189-07 (57.80m) at regionals. Rounding out the list of at-large qualifiers is redshirt-junior Steven Hnat in the shot put. Hnat will be making his first trip to the big show with the no. 17 ranked throw in the country, 59-06.75 (18.15m). The Cards will commence the meet on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. CT with the qualifying round of the men's shot put and will kickoff things on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. CT with the qualifying round of the women's discus. Action will resume on Friday at 3:00 p.m. CT with the qualifying round of the women's triple jump. Saturday's final day will begin at 10:00 a.m. CT with the men's discus final. Fans wishing to follow the action on television can watch two days of live coverage in HD beginning on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET on CBS College Sports Network and continuing on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET on CBS. For the most up-to-date information on each day's events, visit www.uoflsports.com. Schedule of events for the Cards at the NCAA Championships |
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