Four Ready to Represent Southland at NCAA Indoor Championships
The Southland Conference is sending four of its student-athletes to the 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships at the McFerrin Athletic Center in College Station, Texas, beginning Friday.
Sam Houston State high jumper Dess Meek, Stephen F. Austin thrower Frednisha Marshall and Lamar distance runner Samuel Kosgei will join UTSA automatic qualifier and sprinter Teddy Williams in the championships following Monday’s announcement of the participants. A total of 568 student-athletes will compete in the championships. Student-athletes qualified for the event by reaching the automatic or provisional standards established for each event.
Meek becomes Sam Houston State’s first student-athlete to qualify for the Division I meet. A native of Newton, Texas, the sophomore enters the national meet as the No. 6-ranked high jumper. She earned the national berth when she surpassed a height of 1.83 meters at the University of Houston Invitational on Jan. 31. The top qualifier in the pole vault is Arizona’s Elizabeth Patterson. Both she and second-seeded Destinee Hooker, of Texas, had season-best jumps of 1.93 meters. The event is set to begin Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Marshall, who was upset in her pursuit of the Southland Conference weight throw title, will get a chance at a national championship in the same event after qualifying for the national meet as a No. 6 seed. The Ladyjacks’ sophomore and Tyler, Texas, native is scheduled to begin her pursuit of a title Friday at 4 p.m. Marshall clinched her seed on March 7 during the Iowa State Last Chance Meet in Ames, Iowa, where she set a school record with a throw of 67-feet, 10.75-inches (20.69 meters). Louisville sophomore D’Ana McCarty enters the competition as the No. 1 seed, boasting a season-best throw of 21.76 meters.
On the men’s side, Williams was the Southland’s lone automatic qualifier. He heads to College Station as the No. 11 seed in the 60-meter dash. The John Tyler (Texas) product punched his ticket to nationals on Feb. 6 at the New Balance Invitational in New York, N.Y., when he blistered down the track in 6.61 seconds. That time was good enough for second in the event, where Williams finished behind only LSU’s Trindon Holliday. Holliday is the No. 2 seed at this week’s event, boasting a time of 6.56. Clemson’s Jacoby Ford enters as the top seed with a season-best time of 6.51. The national preliminaries are slated to begin Friday at 5:30 p.m.
The Southland’s final qualifier, Kosgei slipped into No. 9 seed for the 5,000 when he raced to first in the event on March 7 at the University of Washington Last Chance Meet in Seattle, Wash. The senior and native of Kapchorwa, Uganda, set a personal record in the Pacific Northwest with a time of 13:48.56, which also set Lamar and Southland records. Oregon’s Galen Rupp holds the best 5,000 time in the country this year. He ran the race in 13:18.12 on Feb. 13. There will be no preliminary race in the 5,000 at nationals, and the final is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start.