June 9, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA programs conclude the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships with 14 All-America honors. This year's event was hosted at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif.

In Saturday's finals, UTEP produced three track and field All-Americans to push its total to four for the championships. The Miners had two silver medalist and one fourth-place finisher on the final day of competition.

Junior Elias Koech was the runner up in the men's 800-meter run, right behind Michigan's Andrew Ellerton. Koech crossed in a season-best 1:47.70. Erma Gene Evans topped of her career by finishing second in the javelin. She marked her best throw on her first attempt with a heave of 179-9" (54.78m). Purdue's Lindsey Blaine was the champion with a mark of 182-3" (55.56m). Senior Fatimoh Muhammed set UTEP's school record in the women's 800, taking fourth in one of the NCAA's fastest races in its history.

Houston, senior Ebonie Floyd concluded an impressive showing Saturday with a third-place finish in the 200-meters with at time of 22.65, while Tulane's senior Gloria Asumnu finished eighth with a clocking of 23.44.

Floyd and Asumnu were the league's only two-time All-American in this year's national event.

2007 C-USA Outdoor Track and Field All-Americans
Men
Ivan Diggs, Houston (high jump)
Cornilius Duncan, Southern Miss (400m)
Stephen Samoei, UTEP (10,000m)
Elias Koech, UTEP (800m)

Women
Ebonie Floyd, Houston (100m, 200m)
Gloria Asumnu, Tulane (100m, 200m)
Marissa Daniels, Rice (10,000m)
Gaelle Niare, SMU (heptathlon)
Alex Becker, Tulsa (5,000m)
Erma Gene Evans, UTEP (javelin)
Fatimoh Muhammed, UTEP (800m)

The following are team wrap-ups from Saturday.

HOUSTON
Senior Ebonie Floyd concluded an impressive showing Saturday with a third-place finish in the 200-meters with at time of 22.65.

Floyd hampered by injury almost did not race in the event. She was plagued by shin splints during Friday's 100-meter final where she finished second with a time 11.28. Floyd came into the meet with the fastest 2007 collegiate time in the 200 meters and was named a two-time NCAA All-American for her performance at the championships.

MEMPHIS
Memphis' Gail Lee finished 12th in the finals of the women's shot put at the NCAA Championships on Saturday in the final NCAA event of her collegiate career.

Lee was unable produce a throw of over 50-feet, reaching only a distance of 49-04.50.

The Fort Worth, Texas native had one of the most successful careers in the history of the Tiger track and field program, reaching the NCAA Championships in all four seasons that she competed for Memphis and becoming the first two-time female All-American in school history. The senior also won five Conference USA individual titles.

Lee is slated to compete in the USA Track and Field Championships on June 20-24.

RICE
Rice senior Pablo Solares ran a career-best 3:40.22 to break his own school record and finish ninth in the men's 1500-meters Saturday.

Solares, who was fifth in the NCAA indoor championships in the mile, ran near the back of the pack for the first lap and a half before moving up the middle in the second lap. He moved up to the lead group of six entering the final lap and covered the final 400 in less than 58 seconds to notch his best national outdoor finish ever.

Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona out kicked Leonel Manzano of Texas to win in 3:37.07.

TULANE
Senior sprinter Gloria Asumnu finished eighth in the 200-meter National Championship Saturday with a time of 23.44.

Asumnu had advanced to the final with a 23.20 time in the semifinals on Thursday.

Asumnu saw her final times dip from her preliminary times after a strenuous week in Sacramento. She was one of four sprinters to make the finals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter and pulled triple duty by running the anchor leg of Tulane's 4x100-relay team which qualified for the NCAA Championships and ran Wednesday.

Asumnu's college career was capped by an impressive run to the National Championship finals, as she set a pair of school records and placed first or second in the Conference USA Championship and Mideast Regional Championship.

She also broke the school record in the 200-meter with a time of 22.70, finishing second behind Stewart, who set the Regional record at 22.41.

UTEP
UTEP had three track and field student-athletes earned All-America honors Saturday. The Miners had two silver medalist and one fourth-place finisher on the final day of competition.

Junior Elias Koech was the runner up in the men's 800-meter run, right behind Michigan's Andrew Ellerton. Koech remained near the front of the pack the entire way before making a move over the final 100 meters to go from fourth to second.

Koech crossed in a season-best 1:47.70, right behind Ellerton's 1:47.48.

Erma Gene Evans topped of her career by finishing second in the javelin. She marked her best throw on her first attempt with a heave of 179-9 (54.78). Purdue's Lindsey Blaine was the champion with a mark of 182-3 (55.56).

Evans had another big throw on her sixth and final attempt of 179-3 (54.63), but was not able to catch Blaine.

Senior Fatimoh Muhammed set the school record in the women's 800, taking fourth in one of the NCAA's fastest races in its history.

Cal's Alysia Johnson posted the second-fastest time ever run in the NCAA going 1:59.29. Muhammed broke Svetlana Badrankova's record of 2:02.99 set in 2001, running 2:01.89.