June 7, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Several Conference USA schools wrapped up their first day of competition at the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Thirteen student-athletes advanced to either the semifinals or finals of their respective events.

Full NCAA Championships results are available at: http://www.flashresults.com/2007_Meets/outdoor/NCAADivisionI/index.htm

The following are team wrap-ups from Wednesday that are competing at nationals.

EAST CAROLINA
Terrance Myers advanced to the finals in the hammer throw while Chelsea Salisbury saw her season come to an end as she missed the cut for the women's hammer throw event.

Salisbury, who advanced to the NCAA Championships after finishing fourth in the hammer throw with a mark of 57.83 meters in the final day of the NCAA East Regionals in Gainesville, Fla., two weeks ago, stood 11th in one of two preliminary heats and 23rd overall with a mark of 55.70 meters. A total of 12 athletes advanced to the finals after besting the cut-off mark of 57.88 meters.

Myers, who advanced to the NCAA Championships after finishing third in the hammer throw with a mark of 62.87 meters in the NCAA East Regionals, placed fifth in his preliminary heat with a mark of 63.34 meters, and was 11th overall, advancing to the finals. A total of 12 athletes advanced to the finals which will begin Friday afternoon at 4:15 p.m.

HOUSTON
Senior Ebonie Floyd and junior Ivan Diggs advanced to their event finals. Floyd turned in an 11.19 finish in the 100-meter prelims giving her the second fastest time going in the semis. During the semi-final round she improved her time to 11.13, the fastest time of the race and a new season best. She will compete in the finals at 8:25 p.m. on Friday.

Making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships, Diggs advanced to the finals of the high jump.

Freshman Hyleta Young, sophomore Seun Adigun, freshman Quin'shundolyn McPherson and Floyd combined to finish 10th in the 4x100 meter relay prelims with a time of 44.79. The finish was not enough to qualify for the event finals.

MEMPHIS
Freshman Steffen Nerdal struggled Wednesday in his first NCAA Championship appearance, as he was unable to advance to the finals of the men's hammer throw.

Nerdal was unable to come close to his personal best and school record distance of 211-10, producing a mark of only 199-11. In his first season with the Tigers, Nerdal smashed the school hammer record and came away the Conference USA Outdoor Championship in the event.

Senior Gail Lee will look to turn Memphis' fortunes as she competes in the women's shot put on Thursday at 9 p.m. After winning the NCAA Mideast Regional, the two-time All-American is expected to finish near the top of this year's competitors in the shot put.

RICE
It only took one attempt for Rice senior Funmi Jimoh to qualify for the final of the long jump Wednesday on the opening day of the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hornet Stadium. Jimoh had a wind-aided jump of 6.48 meters/21-3.25 on her first attempt to meet the automatic qualifying standard of 6.45m and move on to Thursday's final. She had the fifth best mark in the qualifying round, with UCLA's Rhonda Watkins leading the way at 6.54/21-5.5.

Two other Owls competed in qualifying rounds Wednesday -- Rachel Greff in the pole vault and Shakera Reece in the 100 meters. Greff tied for 14th with a clearance at 3.90/12-9.5, but did not advance. Thirteen competitors made 4.00/13-1.5 to qualify for the final.

Reece, the freshman from Barbados who set a school record of 11.34 earlier this spring, clocked 11.66 in her heat and was 25th overall. The top 18 advanced to the semifinals.

SOUTHERN MISS
Junior quarter miler Cornelius Duncan ran a time of 46.92 in the 400 meters, advancing to the semifinals set for Friday at 5:55 p.m., PT. This is the first time Duncan has competed in the NCAA National Outdoor Championship.

Senior long jumper Tanika Liburd recorded a jump of 6.25m (20-6.25), advancing to the finals on Thursday at 4 p.m. This is the second year that Liburd has advanced to the finals. She finished 12th last season.

TULANE
Senior sprinter Gloria Asumnu will run 100 meters for a national championship after she advanced to the finals by posting a 11.28 time in the preliminary heat on Wednesday.

Asumnu's time, which was 0.01 seconds away from matching her own school record, was third in her heat, and fifth among final qualifiers.

The finals will be run Friday at 8:15 p.m. CST.

The Tulane 4x100 team posted a time of 44.93 to place 13th. The quartet of junior Taneekwa Ross, Freshman Jasmine Momoh, Freshman Olivia Kizzee and Asumnu set a school record twice this season, with 44.74 times at the NCAA Mideast Regional prelims and the Conference USA Championship, but will miss the NCAA Finals.

TULSA
Both Edwin Henshaw and Alex Becker advanced to the finals of the men's and women's 5,000 meter run. Henshaw clocked a 10th place time of 14:31.30, while Becker was 11th in the women's race at 16:07.54.

Finals are scheduled for Friday.

UTEP
Four UTEP athletes advanced through the opening rounds on Wednesday.

Junior Alex van der Merwe posted the fourth-best throw in the qualifying round of the javelin. He marked a season best of 227-0 (69.19). He will throw in the finals at 8:15 p.m. MST on Friday.

All-Americans Elias Koech and Dominic Kiprono Tanui breezed through opening round of the 800-meter run. Koech won his heat, running 1:48.71, while Tanui was third in the same heat with a time of 1:49.42. They run the semifinals of the event at 5:50 p.m. MST on Thursday.

Fatimoh Muhammed, who was fifth in the women's 800 last year, moved on running 2:06.15 in the opening round. She will run the semifinals on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. MST.

Oludamola Osayomi failed to advance to the finals of the 100-meter dash. She ran 11.34 in the first round and 11.46 in the semifinals.

Two-time All-American Patrick Mutai was knocked out of the 3,000-meter steeplechase preliminaries after being tripped up in the water jump with just under two and a half laps remaining. Mutai was in third place at the time of the accident.