Six Kats compete at NCAA nationals
6/8/2009 2:00:00 PM | Track & Field
Information and
live updates from NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
NCAA 2009 Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Wednesday, June 10 - Saturday, June 13, 2009
John McDonnell Field - Fayetteville, AR
Fayetteville, AR -- The largest number of student-athletes ever to represent Sam Houston State University at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships will begin competition this week at the national meet hosted by the University of Arkansas at John McDonnell Field.
Five men and one woman will compete for a Bearkat program beginning Wednesday. The athletes (and their events) include Chris Cralle (hammer), Jon Tipton (discus), Dess Meek (high jump), Lane Dennis (400 meter hurdles) and Darryl Hayes and Michael Courtney (400 meter dash).
"In the track and field business, six individual qualifiers from a Southland Conference school is a big deal," Sam Houston State head coach Curtis Collier said. "It's been a long time since a Southland team sent six individuals not as relay members but each in an individual event to NCAA outdoor nationals. This is just a sensational group effort by these student-athletes."
Cralle will open competition for the Bearkats at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday with qualifying in the hammer. Also starting action on Wednesday will be Meek at 5:30 p.m., Dennis at 6:45 p.m. and Hayes and Courtney at 7:25 p.m. Tipton makes his first discus throw at qualifying on Thursday at 1 p.m.
Since Sam Houston began competing at the NCAA Division I level in 1988, the Bearkats have sent 10 men and six women to the national outdoor meet. The previous high of national outdoor qualifiers in one season was four in 2003 when Adrian Ray (110 hurdles), Chris Stewart (200 meters), James Thomas (javelin) and Adam Wooten (200 meters) made the trip.
The Bearkats are coming off an outstanding showing at the NCAA Regional meet at the University of Oklahoma where Tipton won gold in the discus and the Sam Houston men placed ninth in the regional team standings with a school record 25 points.
"There has never been a Southland men's program finish that high at the NCAA regional meet, so this also is a big accomplishment for us," Collier said. "The development of athletes who can compete on a national level reflects well on the progress for our program at Sam Houston State."
Four Bearkat athletes have performed well enough at the NCAA outdoor meet to earn All-America honors. Those four are Jennie Sewell (5th in women's pole vault, 2007), Roshunda Betts (5th in women's javelin, 2006), Precious Madison (8th in women's long jump, 2001) and Adrian Ray (10th in men's 110 hurdles, 2003).
The complete list of Sam Houston athletes competing at the NCAA outdoor, their marks and rankings and schedule of competition is:
| Athlete | Event | Mark | Rank | NCAA Championships Schedule | ||
| Chris Cralle | Hammer | 215' 0" | 13 | Wed. June 10 | 10:30 AM | Qualifying |
| Fri. June 12 | 1:00 PM | Finals | ||||
| Jon Tipton | Discus | 196' 6" | 8 | Thur. June 11 | 1:00 PM | Qualifying |
| Sat. June 13 | 10:00 AM | Finals | ||||
| Dess Meek | High Jump | 5' 10" | 24 | Wed. June 10 | 5:30 PM | Qualifying |
| Fri. June 12 | 4:00 PM | Finals | ||||
| Darryl Hayes | 400m dash | 45.93 | 18 | Wed. June 10 | 7:15 PM | Semifinals |
| Michael Courtney | 46.04 | 22 | Fri. June 12 | 7:25 PM | Finals | |
| Lane Dennis | 400m hurdles | 50.37 | 12 | Wed. June 10 | 6:45 PM | Qualifying |
| Thur. June 11 | 7:00 PM | Semifinals | ||||
| Fri. June 12 | 8:05 PM | Finals | ||||
