Darden, Moore Provisionally Qualify For NCAA Championships

Jan. 15, 2005

Gainesville, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – All-Americans Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) and Wiande Moore (Spring, Texas) both recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks, and junior Melanie Schultz (Davison, Mich.) established a school-record in the mile run to lead the 20th-ranked University of Miami women’s track and field team at the Florida Intercollegiate in Gainesville, Fla.

Darden, a five-time All-American, placed second in the 55-meter hurdles with a personal-best mark of 7.79 seconds. The time is the fifth-fastest in UM history and provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 11-12, in Fayetteville, Ark.

Moore, who earned All-America honors as a member of last season’s 4×100-meter relay, recorded a career-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.86 seconds in placing second in the 55-meter dash. Her time ranks second on UM’s all-time performance list.

Schultz shattered her own school-record in the mile run placing second in a time of 4:52.80. Her time was over nine seconds faster than her previous mark of 5:01.86 set last season at the BIG EAST Indoor Championships.

Several Hurricanes made their debut on Saturday including freshman Lauren Austin (Oviedo, Fla.) who placed ninth in the 55-meters (7.03) and eighth in the 200-meters (24.57), freshman Delia Phlatts (Silver Spring, Md.) who finished 20th in the Mile Run (5:37.51), junior transfer Carly Brown (Ransom Everglades) who placed ninth in the high jump (1.58m), and freshman Khadija Talley (Benning, Ga.) who placed fifth in the shot put (13.41m) and seventh in the weight throw (16.37m).

The Hurricanes return to action on January 21 at the Leonard Hilton Memorial in Houston, Texas.