Seward, Faluade Qualify For NCAA Championships
May 27, 2005
Randall’s Island, N.Y. (hurricanesports.com) – University of Miami sophomores Amy Seward (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) both qualified for the NCAA Championships placing fourth and fifth respectively in the long jump Friday at the NCAA East Regional Championships being held at Icahn Stadium located on Randall’s Island, N.Y.
Seward recorded a personal best mark of 6.23 meters (20-05.25) while Faluade posted a jump of 6.19 meters (20-03.75). Miami had a total of four jumpers place in the top-6 as sophomore All-American Tabia Charles (Pickering, Ontario) and senior All-American Amber Williams (Succasunna, N.J.) finished in a tie for sixth (6.13 meters/20-01.50).
The top-5 finishers in each individual event, along with the top-3 relays, automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, June 8-11, in Sacramento, Calif. The fourth ranked Hurricanes are currently in a tie for third after the first day of competition with 14 points. Georgia (22 points) and Penn State (16 points) are in first and second place.
Miami, however, put itself in position to score a lot of points on Saturday as five women, as well as the 4×100-meter relay, advanced to Saturday’s finals.
In the 400-meter hurdles, junior All-American Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) set a UM record posting a time of 55.52 seconds in winning her preliminary heat. Darden’s time was the fastest of the preliminaries and is the third fastest time by a collegian this season.
Senior All-American Wiande Moore (Spring, Texas) won her preliminary heat of the 400-meters with a personal best time of 52.66 seconds to advance to Saturday’s final. Sophomore All-American Ginou Etienne (Miami Central) finished second to Moore in the heat with a time of 52.97 seconds to also move on to the final.
Junior All-American Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwestern) advanced to the final of the 200-meters winning her preliminary heat in a time of 23.49 seconds. Greggs, ranked third in the nation in the event, posted the fourth fastest time of the qualifying round.
Junior All-American India Ransom (Largo, Md.) qualified for the final of the 100-meters placing third in her preliminary heat with a time of 11.56 seconds.
Darden, Moore, Ransom and Greggs teamed up to win their qualifying heat of the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 44.68 to advance to Saturday’s final. The Hurricanes are the defending NCAA East Regional Champions.
Junior Melanie Schultz (Davison, Mich.), the first Hurricane distance runner to qualify for NCAA Regional competition, finished 22nd in the 5000-meters with a time of 16:44.68.
Other Hurricanes competing Saturday include NCAA Indoor National Champion Kim Barrett (Miami Gulliver Prep) in the shot put, freshman Khadija Talley (Benning, Ga.) in the discus, and Charles, Seward and Faluade in the triple jump. Miami’s 4×400-meter relay will also be in action on Saturday as it attempts to defend its NCAA East Regional championship.
NCAA EAST REGIONALDay 1 Standings - 4 Events Scored1) Georgia 222) Penn State 163) Miami 143) South Carolina 145) West Virginia 105) Yale 105) Rutgers 108) North Carolina State 99) Providence 810) Buffalo-SUNY 610) Florida 612) Virginia Tech 512) North Carolina 512) Columbia 515) Iona 415) Northeastern 417) Pittsburgh 318) Appalachian State 118) Georgia Tech 118) Pennsylvania 118) North Carolina-Charlotte 118) Bucknell 1
