SFA Heads to NCAA Regional Championships
5/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
May 25, 2006
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Fifteen Stephen F. Austin athletes have earned the right to compete in this weekend's NCAA Midwest Regional Track and Field Championships. The regional qualifiers will compete against athletes from Big 12 powers like Texas and Baylor, as well as the cream of the crop from several other schools across the region. The meet will be held Friday and Saturday at the University of Texas' Mike Myers Stadium in Austin.
Junior Reggie Lazenby will make the strongest bid among the SFA athletes for a regional championship. However, he will also likely face the stiffest competition. Lazenby posted six NCAA regional qualifying marks in the long jump this season, his last - a jump of 26-02.25 - breaking the school record and winning the individual title at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships. The mark ranks second in the nation and is the best performance turned in this year by an American-born collegian.
As luck would have it, though, the No. 1 and No. 3 long jumpers in the nation also call the Midwest Region home. Texas A&M's Fabrice Lapierre comes into the regional meet with the country's best mark, only two one hundredths of a meter better than Lazenby. And, in third place to this point, just one hundredth of a meter back, is Chris Gillis, of Baylor.
Lazenby is one of two SFA athletes to qualify for regional competition as an individual in multiple events. His season-best time of 14.27 in the 110-meter hurdles ranks 20th in the region. Alecia Green also qualified in two events. She posted a time of 11.74 to earn a regional berth in the 100-meter dash, and her mark of 19-09.50 in the long jump is he 18th-best performance in the region.
The Ladyjack 4x400-meter relay team qualified for regional competition with a time of 3:40.50. Team members are Stevina Wyatt, Crystal Chang, Katrina Roundtree and Teshania Langston. Wyatt and Roundtree will also compete individually. Roundtree qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 54.53, and Wyatt will compete in the 400-meter hurdles after turning in a season-best time of 60.02. Ashley Monteau will run the 5,000 meters at the regional meet. Her best time of the season is 17:00.22. Audrey Azu and Meghan Denman both qualified in the high jump with a season-best height of 5-08.75. Kristina Windham brings a qualifying height of 12-05.50 into the pole vault.
On the men's side, Ryder Peacock and the 4x100-meter relay team will join Lazenby. Peacock qualified in the high jump with a height of 6-08.75. The team of Erik Powell, Alex Harris, Stephon Rhea and Johnny Thacker will compete in the sprint relay, after qualifying with a school-record time of 40.41.
The meet is set to begin Friday at 1 p.m. with the field events. Running event preliminaries will kick off at 4 p.m.
- SFA -
