Shareese Woods Racing in NCAA 200m Championship Race Saturday, Live on CBS
June 9, 2006
Sacramento, Calif. - Charlotte junior Shareese Woods (Fort Lee, Va./Prince George HS) advanced to the finals of the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Track & Field Championships at Hornet Stadium, putting her in line to compete for a national championship on Saturday afternoon. CBS Television will air the meet live from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m, and the women's 200-meter championship race is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.
Senior Cassie Ficken finished 13th in the 5,000-meter run on Friday night, closing out her third NCAA nationals appearance in the last two years.
Woods, who finished 13th in the 100-meter dash on Thursday night, will be one of nine competitors in Saturday's 200-meter national championship race. The 2006 Atlantic 10 Conference Champion and All-East Region awardwinner will race out of lane two.
She ran in the semifinals of the 200 on Friday night, clocking a time of 23.28 to finish fourth in heat one and capture the final qualifying spot. The top four finishers from each heat automatically advanced, plus the next-fastest time. Hers was the eighth-fastest qualifying time overall.
"It was a very good effort on her part," said Charlotte associate head coach Tim Hall, the team's sprints coach. "Shareese told me after the race that it wasn't one of her best races, but she did what she had to do to finish in the top four and advance to the championship. She just has to relax for the final tomorrow and see what happens. I am very confident she'll relax and pull it together for a great finish."
Shareese has assured herself of a second consecutive NCAA All-American award by becoming one of the top eight American-born finishers. In tomorrow's championship race, four of the nine competitors are foreign-born.
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Woods captured her first All-American award in the 400-meter dash during indoor season this year, finishing in 11th place. However, she did not make it out of the preliminary round at the Indoor Championships. The 200 on Saturday will be her second national-level championship race. Woods advanced to the 2006 AT&T USA Track & Field Indoor 400-meter championship race, finishing seventh overall.
She also has an opportunity to score team points for Charlotte, a feat that has been accomplished only four times in school history and once in the women's team competition. The top eight finishers in each event score points toward the team competition. Cassie Ficken scored points for the 49ers during the 2005 Indoor Championships with a 7th-place finish, while Will Montgomery (6th, 2001 and 7th, 2002) and Rephel Martin (7th, 2000) scored for the men's team at Outdoor Championships.
Woods is the second Charlotte 49ers student-athlete to earn All-America honors at this meet, joining teammate Courtney Patterson (11th place, 100-meter dash). Woods missed out on an All-America award in the 100-dash by just one place with her 13th-place finish.
Ficken finished 13th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:32.89 in the finals. She had advanced to the finals by finishing in 15th in the preliminary round on Wednesday night.
"Cassie looked good," said associate head coach Brad Herbster, the team's distance coach. "She ended her career on a good note, placing 13th in the nation in an event where it's extremely hard to make the final. It's always good to see a class act perform well at this high level."
Ficken was making her third trip to the NCAA national meet in the last two years. She earned an All-American award with a seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter run during the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships, and placed 17th in the 5,000-meter run at the 2005 Outdoor Championships.
This was the final collegiate race of a brilliant career for Ficken, who captured 12 all-conference awards and was the 2005 Conference USA Indoor Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championship Meet. She was also the 2005 C-USA Indoor Track Student-Athlete of the Year and the 2006 Atlantic 10 Track & Field Student-Athlete of the Year, as well as a First Team Academic All-District selection.
