Lane Dennis, Darryl Hayes move on at NCAA
6/10/2009 12:00:00 PM | Track & Field
Updates from NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, AR -- Lane Dennis moved in the Thursday's semifinals in the 400 meter hurdles as he posted one of the top 18 times in the event preliminaries at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships hosted by the University of Arkansas.
The top three finishers in each heat plus the next three best times advanced. Dennis was third in his heat with a time of 50.71 seconds. He finished behind Georgia's Justin Gaymon (50.07) and Delaware State's Leslie Murray (50.54). Lee Moore of Ole Miss was the top qualifier with a mark of 49.87 seconds.
Bearkats sophomore Darryl Hayes also will be running in the semifinals of the 400-meter dash Friday. Hayes finished third in his heat with a time of 46.43 in the first round Wednesday. His was the 14th fastest time in the preliminaries. Florida State freshman Jonathan Borlee led the prelims with a 45.50 clocking.
Senior Michael Courtney missed out on joining Hayes in the semifinals, finishing 19th with a time of 46.54. Darius Law of Charlotte was the 18th and final qualifier with a time of 46.51.
Chris Cralle opened Sam Houston State's action in the championships Wednesday afternoon by placing 15th in the men's hammer. Cralle threw 206 feet, seven inches on his first attempt and could not better the mark on his final two tosses.
Walter Henning of LSU had the top mark in Wednesday's preliminares with a throw of 229 feet. The best 12 finishers in the prelims advance to Friday's men's hammer finals. Cralle finished ahead of competitors from Purdue, Idaho, Texas-El Paso, Stanford, Princeton, Southern Cal, Colorado State, LSU and Kent State. Jason Lewis of Arizona State picked up the 12th and final spot in the finals with a throw of 210 feet three inches.
Dess Meek was forced to drop out of the women's high jump competition after suffering an injury in warm-up. Meek qualified for the national meet with the 24th best jump this year in the nation, a mark of 5' 10".
The sixth Sam Houston athete in the event opens competition Thursday at 1 p.m. as Jon Tipton competes in the discus.
Capsule of Sam Houston results at the NCAA Meet to date:
Hammer - Chris Cralle - 15th - 206' 7"
400m Hurdles - Lane Dennis - 18th - 50.71
400m Dash - Darryl Hayes 14th 46.43
400m Dash - Michael Courtney 19th 46.54
