May 26, 2006

Complete Results

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Four Spartans competed Friday on day one of the NCAA Women's Mideast Regional Track and Field Championships at the Tom Black Track on the campus of Tennessee.

Senior Taren James (Long Beach, Calif.), who finished second in the long jump at the Big Ten Championships with a personal-best leap of 6.15 meters, jumped 5.67 meters (18-7 1/4) on Friday to place 22nd.

On the track, sophomore Jackie Walton (Darien, Ill.) ran a personal-best time in the 100-meter hurdles with a 13.67 to finish third in her heat, but she did not advance to the finals on Saturday. Overall, Walton placed 15th.

Senior Aimee Keenan (Bellmont, Mich.) ran the 800 meters in 2:11.52 to finish 17th. In the 5,000 meters, junior Michelle Rafferty finished 19th with a time of 17:25.36.

Nicole Bush and Emily Adama will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday at 7:45 p.m., while Taren James looks to advance to the NCAA Championships in the triple jump at 6 p.m.

The top-five finishers in the individual events automatically advance to the NCAA Championship meet. After all of the automatic qualifiers have been identified, the committee will place the next seven finishers, based on regional finish, in each event into the national at-large pool. The at-large athletes are then ranked in order of their best performance of the year, including the regional meet, and the committee will begin filling the remaining open spots from the top of the at-large list until the maximum number of 544 competitors is reached.