FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Louisiana Tech 4x100 team of junior Mike Coleman, sophomore Al Fullwood along with freshmen Josh Harvey and Terry Carter shocked the NCAA Mideast Regionals Saturday with a time of 39.66 seconds for a second place finish over Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Mississippi State and LSU to advance to the NCAA Nationals in June.
"This was such a great day two," Tech head coach Gary Stanley said. "For the men's relay to finish second (in the 4x100) and fourth (in the 4x400) was great. We have great schools in this region. These four kids are all local kids from North Louisiana and just performed so well against all these great schools."
As Stanley said, the men's 4x400 team of Coleman, Fullwood, sophomore Wade MaGaha and freshman Demonte Willis finished fourth at 3:07.48 beating teams such as Tennessee, Kentucky and LSU. The men led the way to a 13th place finish overall with 81 total teams competing over the weekend.
Junior Nadia Alexander took a fourth place finish in the shot to also advance the nationals after a throw of 54 feet, 4.50 inches. Both the men's and women's 4x400 teams are in the at-large pool for the national meet.
Freshman Larry Jones threw a personal best in the discus at 177-05 but was not enough to advance.
The women's 4x400 team of junior El Charrita Reynolds, sophomore Kamelia Stroy along with freshmen Shante Benion and Monique Wright finished eighth on the day with a time of 3:36.98.
Tech will return to action June 11 in Des Moines, Iowa, for the 2008 NCAA National Championships.