The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers Set For NCAA Mideast Regional Championship
5/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
May 29, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Six individuals and one relay team will represent the UAB track and field squad at the 2008 NCAA Mideast Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which is set to begin Friday at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
The two-day meet begins Friday for the Blazers who will be taking part in six individual events and one relay event.
Erika Russ, Tara Colvin, Alina Varpiotaite, Jacinta Scruggs, Whitney Mays, Samantha Hamilton and Penny Shields will be the individuals competing for the Blazers, who will also field a team that includes Genoah Collins in the 4x400-meter relay.
The regional meet is par for the course for Colvin and Mays, who will be making the fourth appearance at the championship. It will be the second time for Varpiotaite and Collins, and the first time for Russ, Scruggs and Hamilton.
Russ will be the first Blazer to take to the track Friday, as she competes in the 100-meter hurdles, an event she won at the Conference USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship this year. She has a qualifying time of 13.45, which is also a personal best.
Colvin will follow with her fourth appearance in the 400-meter dash, an event where she placed 20th last year. She lowered her qualifying time to 54.03 at the C-USA Championship two weeks ago.
Varpiotaite will be the third Blazer out of the starting block, when she runs in the 800-meter run. She has a 2:08.33 qualifying time in the event, which is a school record.
Scruggs will conclude UAB's first day in the 400-meter hurdle preliminaries. She captured first place at the C-USA Championship and has a qualifying time of 59.07
To advance to Saturday's finals Russ, Colvin, Varpiotaite and Scruggs will need to finish in the top eights in their respective events preliminaries. The finals will be held throughout the day on Saturday.
Also beginning Saturday will be the efforts of Penny Shields and Samantha Hamilton who will be competing in the triple jump. This marks the second trip for Shields, who has a qualifying distance of 12.64 meters. Hamilton, making her first appearance, has a 12.57 qualifying distance.
Later that evening Mays will run in her fourth consecutive regional 3,000-meter steeplechase. Last year she placed 12th in the event and has a 10:42.11 qualifying time entering the event.
UAB concludes the regional championship with the 4x400-meter relay. Scruggs, Collins, Varpiotaite, and Colvin are scheduled to be the four runners who will be racing in the event. Collins is the only member of the Blazers who did not qualify for an individual event.
The seven regional qualifiers is tied for the second most under head coach Ray Stanfield and marks the fourth straight year where UAB has had five or more meet the regional standard.
For live results visit the Mideast Regional Championship by clicking here.
