Southland Track, Field Stars Vie for National Titles in 15 Events This Week

6/9/2009 7:45:00 PM

FRISCO, Texas ? Twenty of the Southland Conference’s brightest track and field stars will have their chance to shine in the national spotlight this week when they represent the conference in 15 events at the 2009 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Southland Conference, which qualified at least one student-athlete to the national meet from eight of its 11 eligible universities ? Central Arkansas is in the transition process from Division II to Division I and is not eligible to compete ? boasts 16 entrants in 12 men’s events to go along with four qualifiers in three women’s events. The national meet begins Wednesday and concludes Saturday at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas. In all, 544 student-athletes per gender will compete in the Division I championships.

One of three Southland schools to have a qualifier in both the men’s and women’s competitions, Sam Houston State is sending six student-athletes, including NCAA Midwest Regional discus champion Jon Tipton, to Fayetteville. The senior became the third Bearkat in history to win regional gold, and he will compete alongside 26 others, including a pair of conference foes, in two flights when the preliminary round begins Thursday at 1 p.m. While Tipton is scheduled to throw ninth in the second flight, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s lone national qualifier will kick off the discus competition. Hickel Woolery, who qualifies with an at large bid, is scheduled to throw first in the opening flight. One of Southeastern Louisiana’s two entrants, junior Adonson Shallow will also throw 11th in the opening flight. The top-12 marks and ties from Thursday’s preliminary round will qualify for Saturday’s final.

Southeastern’s other competitor is junior Cory Roberts, who received an at large bid into the men’s decathlon. One of 25 entrants, Roberts will open competition on Wednesday with the 100, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 competitions. The remaining five events ? the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 ? are scheduled for Thursday.

The only event on the week that will feature more than one student-athlete from the same school is the men’s 400, which boasts a pair of Bearkats. Set to begin on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m., sophomore Darryl Hayes will run in the first of five quarterfinal heats while Senior Michael Courtney takes part in the third heat. Both heats feature five runners, and the top-three finishers from each heat along with the next best three times will qualify for the two semifinal heats on Friday.

Sam Houston State senior Lane Dennis will compete in the second heat of 400 hurdles preliminaries at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday. Dennis’ qualifying time of 50.25 is just 0.12 seconds slower than his second-place time at the regional and is the second-fastest time in his heat. Also representing the Bearkats in a field event is junior Chris Cralle, who will throw 11th in the second flight of the hammer event, which is scheduled to open competition at the national meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The Bearkats’ lone female representative in Arkansas is sophomore Dess Meek. She boasts the No. 10 qualifying mark in the women’s high jump. Of the events 26 qualifiers that will compete in two flights, Meek must rank among the top-16 at the final bar change to qualify from Wednesday’s preliminary through to Friday’s 4 p.m. final.

UT Arlington, which is also sending six student-athletes to the national meet, boasts the conference’s lone multi-event qualifier in Cordero Gray. The sophomore sprinted his way to Fayetteville with a bronze finish in the 100 at the Midwest regional before receiving word that he qualified for the 200 with an at large bid. The 100’s four quarterfinal heats are slated to begin Wednesday at 6 p.m., with Gray running out of Lane 2 in the fourth heat. On Thursday at the same time, Gray will run in the third of five heats in the 200. In both events, the top-three finishers from each heat will qualify for the semifinal heats, which run the same day as the quarterfinal heats. In addition, Gray is scheduled to compete in the 400 relay at 5 p.m. on Wednesday alongside junior teammate Jarid Vaughan and seniors Takeshi Fujiwara and Byron Majors.

Also competing for the Mavericks is freshman Andrew Duncan III in the men’s high jump and junior Jasmine Walls in the women’s 200. Duncan will be the fifth competitor in the first of two flights at 8 p.m. on Wednesday while Walls runs in the fifth heat of the 200 preliminaries at 6:10 p.m. on Thursday.

Texas State will also send two student-athletes to Fayetteville. In the men’s competition, senior Kemuel Morales will represent the Bobcats in the men’s shot put after he qualified via a third-place finish in the Midwest regional. He is scheduled to throw 11th in the opening flight of Wednesday’s event. On the women’s side, junior Katherine Evans will compete in the high jump, which begins Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

In addition to A&M-Corpus Christi, schools qualifying a student-athlete to the national meet include Lamar, Nicholls and Northwestern State. Cardinals’ senior Samuel Kosgei earned automatic qualification into the men’s 10,000 by virtue of his fourth-place finish in the regional. Coming into the event with a qualifying time of 28:45.24, Kosgei is one of 26 competitors set to compete for the first track gold medal on Thursday at 9:45 p.m.

Nicholls will be represented at the national meet for the first time in its history when junior Leslie Bourgeois competes in the second flight of the women’s javelin at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Northwestern State’s lone competitor is senior Cody Fillinich in the men’s javelin. Set to begin Wednesday at 8 p.m., Fillinich will throw first in the second flight.

For the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held in Fayetteville, Ark., there will be the ability to watch on the Internet as well on CBS College Sports Network as well as CBS.

There will be three hours of live television coverage on CBS College Sports Network on Friday and two hours of live coverage on CBS on Saturday. The entire rest of the meet will feature FREE live online video streaming. Below is the breakdown of coverage of the meet, complete with video links.

Wednesday, June 10
- Video starting at 9:30 a.m. CT

o Watch

Thursday, June 11
- Video starting at 9:30 a.m. CT

o Watch

Friday, June 12
- CBS College Sports Network coverage from 6-9 p.m. CT (no Internet video during this time)

- Video starting at 10 a.m. CT

o Watch

Saturday, June 13
- CBS coverage from Noon-2 p.m. CT (no Internet video during this time)

- Video starting at 9 a.m. CT

o Watch

2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships -- Preliminary Heat/Flight Schedule
John McDonnell Track -- Fayetteville, Arkansas
Name	Class	School	Event	Date, Time
Samuel Kosgei	Jr.	Lamar	Men's 10,000*	Thurs., 9:45 p.m.
Leslie Bourgeois	Jr.	Nicholls	Women's Javelin	Wed., 5:30 p.m.
Cody Fillinich	Sr.	Northwestern State	Men's Javelin	Wed., 8 p.m.
Michael Courtney	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400	Wed., 7:15 p.m.
Chris Cralle	Jr.	Sam Houston State	Men's Hammer Throw	Wed., 10:30 a.m.
Lane Dennis	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400 Hurdles	Wed., 6:45 p.m.
Darryl Hayes	So.	Sam Houston State	Men's 400	Wed., 7:15 p.m.
Dess Meek	So.	Sam Houston State	Women's High Jump	Wed., 5:30 p.m.
John Tipton	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Men's Discus	Thurs., 1 p.m.
Cory Roberts	Jr.	Southeastern La.	Men's Decathlon*	Wed.-Thurs., All Day
Adonson Shallow	Jr.	Southeastern La.	Men's Discus	Thurs., 1 p.m.
Andrew Duncan, III	Fr.	UT Arlington	Men's High Jump	Wed., 8 p.m.
Cordero Gray	So.	UT Arlington	Men's 100/200	Wed./Thurs., 6:10 p.m.
Jasmine Walls		UT Arlington	Women's 200	Thurs., 6:25 p.m.
Cordero Gray, Jarid Vaughan,	So., Jr.,	UT Arlington	4x100 Relay	Wed., 5:15 p.m.
Takeshi Fujiwara, Byron Majors	Sr., Sr.
Hickel Woolery	Sr.	A&M-Corpus Christi	Men's Discus	Thurs., 1 p.m.
Katherine Evans	Jr.	Texas State	Women's High Jump	Wed., 5:30 p.m.
Kemuel Morales	Sr.	Texas State	Shot Put	Wed., 3 p.m.
* Indicates Event Final