May 14, 2006

ARLINGTON, Texas - - Closing out day to of the Southland Conference men's and women's outdoor track and field championships in style, Amanda King and Renee Graham posted a one two finish in the women's 3000 meter steeplechase at Maverick Stadium at the University of Texas at Arlington.

King shattered the Southland Conference championship record by 21 seconds and set a new stadium record, running a 10:31.46. The previous record was 10:52.92 set by Rebecca Johansson of Texas-Arlington in 2001. King's time is also a new Lamar University record, breaking her own time of 10:44.54 which she set at the Ty Terrell Relays.

Graham ran a 10:52.06 for second place. Her time also broke the SLC championship 3,000 meter steeplechase record.

Kim Ballenger picked up a point for the Lady Cardinals by taking eighth place in the heptathlon. The junior from Tatum, Texas scored 3642 points, en route to her eighth place finish..

Hamish Meacheam has posted a fifth place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase, running a 9:24.98.

Heading into Monday, the Lady Cardinals sit in seventh place with 21 points, while the Cardinal men are in ninth place with four points.

In the preliminaries of the running events, Lamar had several athletes qualify for the finals on Monday.

Defending 400 meter champion Chinelo Nwobu posted the fastest preliminary time in the women's 400 meter dash, running 54.27 to win heat two. Nwobu has run the 46th fastest time in the NCAA this season, with a 53.77. Nwobu also qualified for the finals in the 200 meter dash, running a 24.24, the seventh best time in the meet.

Toni Sylvester also qualified for the finals, running a 55.81, which was the seventh fastest prelim time.

In the 100 hurdles, Jessika Johnson ran a personal-best time of 14.06, the seventh fastest time in the meet.

In the men's competition, all three LU runners qualified for the finals in the 1,500 meter run. Danny Shaw led the way for the Cardinals running a 3:57.45, good for second place in heat two, Ewan Simpson qualified with a 3:59.45 while Austin Turnbull advanced with a 4:08.47.

Monday's finals begin with field events at 1 p.m., followed by running event finals at 5 p.m.

For a schedule of events and complete live results for the SLC Outdoor Championship, click on the following link.

http://www.cfpitiming.com/