SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Led by senior Mark Nichol's (Short Hills, N.J.) automatic-qualifying time in the 5,000 meters on Friday, March 4, the University of Texas finished competition at the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday, March 5 having posted five NCAA Indoor Championship qualifiers. Sophomore Carlee Clark (Bozeman, Mont.) was the lone representative for the Texas women and provisionally-qualified in the 800 meters, while juniors Joe Thorne (Chamblee, Ga.) and Ronald Hill (Walnut, Calif.) provisionally-qualified in the 5,000 meters and long jump, respectively. The men's distance medley relay also notched a provisional-qualifying time over the weekend.
Nichol, who finished third in the race, stood in 27th place on the national list entering the evening after finishing third at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 14:06.42. He improved on his time by almost 13 seconds, guaranteeing him a place in the 5,000-meter race at the national meet. Thorne, competing in his first 5,000-meter race of the season, posted a provisional-qualifying 14:12.44 in finishing sixth.
Texas' distance medley relay team of seniors Matt Caterisano (Plano, Texas) and Ryan Ponsonby (Denton, Texas) and freshmen Hamza Deyaf (Richardson, Texas) and Kyle Miller (Katy, Texas) had yet to qualify for the national meet before the Alex Wilson, entering the meet with a top time of 9:50.74. But, the foursome shaved over 11 seconds off that time and finished in 13th place with a provisional-qualifying 9:38.15.
Hill provisionally-qualified for the national indoor meet after finishing fourth with a leap of 24-7. Hill, who has a career-best jump of 26-5, had yet to qualify for the national meet and his longest jump of the season was a 24-2.50 at the Big 12 Championships on Feb. 26.
In the women's 800 meters, Carlee Clark just missed her personal best (2:08.87b) in finishing seventh with a time of 2:08.94. This was her first provisional-qualifying time of the season.
The deadline for setting a qualifying standard for the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships is 6 p.m. (Eastern) on Sunday, March 6. The Longhorns will know how many athletes they will have competing at the championships by Monday, March 7. The NCAA indoor meet will be held Friday and Saturday, March 11-12 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Complete Texas Results
800 Meters
7. Carlee Clark, 2:08.94 (prov.)
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