Women's Track and Field qualifiers announced for 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships
March 9, 2010
AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas Women's Track and Field team will send four individuals and the 4x400-meter relay to the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held Friday-Saturday, March 12-13, at Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The NCAA released the 2010 descending order list of national qualifiers on Monday. Chantel Malone, Angele Cooper, Jordyn Brown and Betzy Jimenez will compete individually for the Horns while UT will also field a mile-relay squad. Junior long jumper Malone leads the pack as she enters the national meet fifth on the national descending list with a personal-best mark of 21-4.25 (6.51m). Malone posted the mark at the 2010 Big 12 Indoor Championship where she won her first long jump title and snapped a 13-year-old meet record. The jump also stands as the second-best in UT indoor history. Malone will take on the rest of the women's long jump field at 7:25 p.m. Central on Friday. Sophomore Cooper, who advanced to the 400m hurdles semifinals at last year's NCAA Outdoor meet, returns to the national stage in the 400m along with running a leg on the Horns' 4x400-meter relay. Cooper owns a PR of 52.97 in the event, good for eighth on the descending list, and already has two All-American honors with the mile-relay, including running the second leg of UT's 2009 NCAA Outdoor National Title 4x400m. Prelims for the 400m are at 6:10 p.m. on Friday with the finals being run at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday. Senior Brown will be making her second appearance at the national indoor meet thanks to reaching provisional marks in the shot put in every competition this season. Brown's season-best throw of 54-1 (16.48m) at Arkansas' Last Chance meet this past weekend bumped her up to 13th on the descending list. Brown placed fourth at the national indoor meet a year ago with her PR of 55-3.5 (16.85m). The shot put trials and final take place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Redshirt junior Jimenez will compete in the 3,000m after earning the 17th spot on the descending list. Jimenez's fastest time in the event this season is 9:18.03, over 30 seconds faster than her previous PR. The junior, who advanced to the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, will be making her first trip to the national indoor meet. The 4x400m group is currently eighth on the descending list after running a season-best 3:35.39 at the Texas A&M Dual Meet. Sophomores Judy Nwosu, Stacey-Ann Smith and junior Chantel Malone will join Cooper on the track at 8:40 p.m. Saturday night. The Longhorns sent three individuals and their Mile Relay to the National Indoor Championships a year ago and came away with a fourth-place finish to extend their streak of consecutive top-10 finishes to seven. |
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