Charles, Greggs, 4x100-Meter Relay Advance
June 7, 2006
Sacramento, Calif. (hurricanesports.com) – All-Americans Tabia Charles (Pickering, Ontario) and Charlette Greggs (Miami Northwester) each advanced in individual events, and the 4×100-meter relay also advanced, to lead the third-ranked University of Miami women’s track and field team at the first day of competition at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.
Charles, an eight-time All-American, advanced to Thursday’s long jump final posting a mark of 6.26 meters (20-06.50). The 2006 USTFCCCA East Region Field Athlete of the Year, won this year’s ACC title and enters the NCAA Championships ranked third in the nation in the event. She placed eighth in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season.
In the 200-meters, Greggs finished fourth in her opening round heat in a time of 23.31 seconds to move into Friday’s semifinal. The 11-time All-American reached the NCAA final last season.
Greggs was also a member of the 4×100-meter relay that qualified for Friday’s final. The relay of junior Amy Seward (Virginia Beach, Va.), Greggs, junior All-American Dominique Darden (Harrisburg, Pa.) and senior All-American India Ransom (Largo, Md.) finished second in its semifinal heat with a time of 44.12 seconds.
The relay, ranked sixth in the nation, struggled early in the race after a poor opening handoff between Seward and Greggs dropped them from second to fourth. But blistering closing legs by Darden and Ransom advanced the relay to the NCAA final for the fourth consecutive season.
In the 800-meters, junior All-American Ginou Etienne (Miami Central) placed fourth in her preliminary heat in a time of 2:06.94 and did not advance.
Junior All-American Brenda Faluade (Katy, Texas) and Seward competed in the long jump preliminaries on Wednesday but did not advance. Faluade posted a mark of 6.20 meters (20-04.25) to finish 15th, while Seward recorded a jump of 5.86 meters (19-02.75) to place 24th.
The Hurricanes return to action on Thursday with Charles in the long jump final, junior Akera Lathan (Miami Southridge) in the preliminaries of the shot put, Ransom in the opening round of the 100-meters, Darden in the opening round of the 400-meter hurdles, and the semifinals of the 4×400-meter relay.
