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 Junior Mike Coleman of the men's 4x100 hopes to advance to nationals after tomorrow |
May 30, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Louisiana Tech's nationally renowned track and field team had a couple of athletes advance to the NCAA National Meet Friday and a relay team advance to the finals.
Sophomore Larry Jones threw 219 feet, 4 inches to advance to nationals with a fourth-place finish while breaking Tech's school record (new rule). Junior Phelecia Reynolds will also compete in the national meet after placing fifth in the discus at 169-03.
The men's 4x100 team of junior Mike Coleman, sophomore Al Fullwood and freshmen Josh Harvey and Terry Carter ran a blazing 40.02 second time for a fifth place finish. The relay team will return to tomorrow to compete in the finals.
Although Tech took so many athletes, not as many advanced as one would have hoped.
"They didn't place as high as they wanted to," Tech head coach Gary Stanley said.We had a lot of kids run fast, but didn't place too high. It was a learning experience. We wanted more, but it was a great honor to have 23 people here. There were a lot of coaches commenting how great it was for us to have some many competing."
Plenty of the athletes will compete Saturday including junior shot competitor Nadia Alexander among a host of others.
"What I told the athletes was that this wasn't a conference meet," Stanley said. "There were many different conferences represented such as the SEC and the Big 10. Eighty-one schools are here. Some of best track schools in the nation are here, and we are honored to be a part of it."