Pat Springs is one of four Niners to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. |
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Niners Send Four to NCAA Track and Field Championships
May 26, 2007
Gainesville, Fla. - Pat Springs, who already qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Friday, will be joined by three other Charlotte 49ers, who made the national meet by qualifying at the NCAA East Regional meet Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. Shareese Woods made it in two events, while Sharonda Johnson and Aja Jackson qualified as well and will be sent to the National Championships in Sacramento, Calif., beginning June 6.
Charlotte was the top scoring team from the state of North Carolina, with 27 points. Charlotte finished ninth, ahead of tenth-place Duke, with North Carolina Chapel Hill 11th.
"Even though the women were one place lower than last year we recorded a higher point total, even without anticipated 4x100m points, and are excited and proud to be the top finishing women's program from the state of North Carolina," said Charlotte head coach Bob Olesen
The top five at each region make the finals, plus others with top times and marks from around the country at the regional meets for a chance at a National Championship and All-America status. Jason Moore has a low time in the men's 100m dash, and when results come in, Charlotte hopes to add his name to the participant's list for the National Championships. Springs qualified in the long jump on Friday, the first Niner to make it to the national meet in the long jump, and will be joined her three teammates on the women's side in two weeks.
Woods qualified in the 100m and 200m dashes. Woods was second at the East Regional with a school-record 200m time of 23.09 seconds. It was two hundredths of a second faster than her own previous record of 23.11 that she ran at the NCAA Championships last June. She ran fourth in the 100m finals to qualify in both events, netting a time of 11.66 seconds into the wind in Florida.
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Courtney Patterson also had a low time in the 100m and is on the cusp of making the National Championships in that event, which could get Charlotte to six in at California.
Aja Jackson reached the national meet by virtue of a fifth-place result in her event. She turned in a school-record time of 2:06.76 in the 800m dash finals.
Sharonda Johnson will be going to her second Outdoor National Championship meet, thanks to a fifth-place finish with a season-long result of 13.06m (42' 10.25") in the event.
Senior Jane Daniels finished 30th in the steeplechase with a 11:00.47 time.
"Overall the meet was a good one for us although the women's 4x100m relay dropped baton was a real heartbreaker as they were ranked 2nd in the region and 8th in the nation leading into the weekend the rest of the women's performances were excellent with three school records and another season's best," said Olesen.
"I'm especially proud of the women that automatically qualified for nationals and the group as a whole bouncing back from the disappointing 4x100 relay and still putting up more points than we did last year. It's nice to leave the regional championship having auto qualifiers and not worrying about what other regions' results are to determine at-large berth possibilities."
Woods and Johnson have already earned All-America status (multiple times) as the four attempt to earn the first National Championship for Charlotte in any sport in two weeks in California.
