Hurricanes Ready To Begin At NCAA Championships
Read Saraque Whittaker’s Diary Here
>May 29, 2002
Baton Rouge, LA (hurricanesports.com) – The University of Miami women’s track and field team will begin competition Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Baton Rouge, LA.
Miami, which has had 15 athletes earn a combined 39 All-America honors since 1992, has never had a sprinter earn All-America honors in the 100-meters. This season the Hurricanes will look to freshman Lauryn Williams (Rochester, PA) and senior Wyllesheia Myrick (Miami Northwestern) to change that fact.
Williams, the 2002 BIG EAST 100-meter champion, earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the 60-meters at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships earlier this year. She enters the NCAA Outdoor Championships ranked 12th in the nation in the 100-meters and is attempting to become the first Hurricane sprinter to earn All-America honors both indoors and outdoors in the same season.
Myrick, competing in her final NCAA Championship meet, ranks 20th in the nation in the 100-meters. Myrick, who redshirted the 2001 season, earned All-America honors in the 200-meters at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Durham, NC.
“With this being my final NCAA meet I obviously want to do well,” said Myrick. “I feel very fortunate to be here this year. I’m anxious to get started and I feel very confident heading into tomorrow’s preliminaries.”
Also taking part in Thursday’s preliminaries will be junior Sharianne Lawson (Palm Beach Lakes) in the 100-meter hurdles. The 2002 BIG EAST champion, enters the competition ranked eighth in the nation. Lawson looks to carry on the Hurricanes’ strong history in the event. Miami has had at least one All-American in the 100-hurdles in seven of the last 10 years including four NCAA individual titles.
Miami will have a pair of All-Americans competing Thursday in the long jump. Kareen Clarke (Lithonia, GA), one of the favorites to win the triple jump on Saturday, also qualified in the long jump along with junior Gina Harris (Philadelphia, PA).
Clarke posted the nation’s 18th best mark this season in the long jump while Harris, who earned All-America honors in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships, enters the Outdoor championships ranked 20th in the nation.
“We are definitely ready to get going,” said head coach Amy Deem. “We have had two very good days of practice here in Baton Rouge and I expect our women to compete hard tomorrow.”
Miami's Thursday NCAA Schedule (all times Central):6:15 PM 100-Meter Hurdles - Preliminaries (Lawson)7:15 PM 100-Meters - Preliminaries (Myrick, Williams)7:30 PM Long Jump - Final (Clarke, Harris)
