June 9, 2007

SACRAMENTO, CA - Tulane senior sprinter Gloria Asumnu finished eighth in the 200-meter National Championship Saturday at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex, as the Mideast Regional runner-up posted a time of 23.44.

Kerron Stewart of Auburn (22.42) won the event, with Simone Facey (Texas A&M, 22.64) in second.

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

She finished ninth in the country in the 100-meter dash on Friday, with a time of 11.57, she had advanced with a time of 11.28 on Wednesday.

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.

At the Conference USA Championship on May 12, Asumnu won the 100-meter, turning in a time of 11.32 seconds. She was the runner up in the 200-meter, posting a 23.24.

Two weeks later, at the NCAA Mideast Regional, Asumnu broke her own school record to win the 100-meter dash. Her time of 11.27 in the 100-meter dash was the best in the eight-runner finals by 0.08 seconds over LSU's Sherry Fletcher.

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.

As part of Tulane's 4x100 meter relay team, the Green Wave placed fourth in the Region after placing second in Conference USA. The quartet advanced to the NCAA finals, where they finished 13th in the preliminaries.