The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Four Blazers Qualify For NCAA East Preliminaries
5/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
May 23, 2012
Meet Schedule | Start Lists | Championship Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Four Blazers will represent the UAB track and field team this week at the 2012 NCAA East Preliminary Round hosted by the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.
The three-day event starts Thursday and runs through Saturday at Hodges Stadium. Live results will be available for all three days.
Senior Kristina Vaughn, juniors Rachel Harley and Sarah Hudak and sophomore Angel Watson will make their first-ever trips to the NCAA Preliminaries.
“We are excited to take these young ladies to the NCAA East Preliminary meet,” head coach Kurt Thomas said. “They have worked very hard all year and have achieved a lot. We have two conference champions in Kristina and Sarah, and one runner-up in Rachel, so they have been successful this year.”
The top 12 finishers in each preliminary event from each region advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake Stadium.
“The overall goal is to go to the NCAA Championship meet,” Thomas said. “This East Prelim is the first step, so these girls have a chance.”
Vaughn qualified as the No. 41 seed for the 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims with her UAB school record time of 10:30.25 at the Stanford Invitational (4/6). The time is tops in C-USA this season.
The Madison, Ala. native recently took first in the event at the C-USA Outdoor Championship (5/12) to earn first-team honors. Vaughn will run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Hudak also clocked her qualifying time at the Stanford Invite. She raced to a time of 16:26.41 in the 5,000 meters, earning the 26th seed in the preliminaries. Her time at the Stanford Invite places her second on UAB’s all-time list.
Hudak will compete in the 5,000 meters on Saturday at 8:45 p.m. ET.
Harley recently raced to a 59.26 in the 400-meter hurdles to place second at the C-USA Championship (5/13) and will be seeded No. 27. She earned C-USA second team honors for her efforts. Harley will run on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET.
Watson logged a 23.85 in the 200 meters at the War Eagle Invite (4/21) to earn the No. 39 seed in the NCAA prelims. She placed sixth at the War Eagle meet and is now second on UAB’s all-time performance list.
The Mobile, Ala. native will compete on Friday at 8:25 p.m. ET.
“These girls have exceeded expectations left and right and earned their shot at this meet, and to go to the NCAA Championship Final in Des Moines,” Thomas said. “It’ll be a lot of fun to watch them go after it.”
