May 25, 2006

AUSTIN - Five Lamar University track athletes will take on the top individuals in the Region this weekend, when they hit the track in Austin for the Midwest Regional Championship hosted by the University of Texas at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.

Toni Sylvester and Danny Shaw will take to the track on Friday night in the preliminaries of the women's 400 meter dash and the men's 1,500 meter run, while Clerc Koenck, Amanda King and Renee Graham will compete in the finals on Saturday. Koenck will compete in the finals of the women's 1,500 meter run, while Graham and King will run in the finals of the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Shaw will run on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the first of two heats in the men's 1,500 meter run. He qualified for the regional meet by virtue of winning the Southland Conference championship on May 15 in Arlington.

Sylvester will compete in heat one of the women's 400 on Friday night at 8 p.m., running in lane seven. Sylvester qualified for the regional meet when she sprinted to a 54.55 finish in the 400 meter finals of the Southland Conference Championship on May 15.

Koenck will hit the track at 5:50 p.m. on Saturday in the women's 1,500 meter run. Koenck qualified for the regional meet by winning the SLC Championship.

King and Graham will run at 8:10 p.m. on Saturday night, when they take on a field of 15 runners in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

King enters the meet with the fifth fastest time in the region after running a 10:31.46 at the SLC Championship. Graham will be running the steeple for just the fourth time in her career after finishing runner-up to King in the SLC meet.

The top five times in every event qualify for the National Championship Track Meet, held June 7-10 in Sacramento, Calif. The NCAA may also award a minimum of five at-large bids in each event for the national championship meet.

The NCAA Midwest Regional meet is one of four regional meets being held this weekend. The others are the East regional meet at North Carolina A&T State University, the Mideast Regional at the University of Tennessee and the West Regional at Brigham Young University.

For Live results at the Midwest Regional, click on the link below.

http://www.texassports.com/results/ncaareg/index.htm