Four Hurricanes Advance to National Championship Finals
June 11, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 13th-ranked University of Miami women’s track team had a very successful second day at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships at the University of Arkansas’ McDonnell Track. The Hurricanes will have two finalists in both the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles.
On Wednesday, sophomores Ti’erra Brown and Tameka Jameson advanced to Thursday’s semifinal round of the 400-meter hurdles. In the first of two heats, Jameson placed fourth with a time of 57.12 seconds. The second heat belonged to Brown who led the entire race, crossing the line 56.87 seconds, her fastest time of the season. Both women will compete in the final Friday evening at 8:55 p.m.
The finals appearance will be the second for Brown, who placed eighth a season ago in Des Moines, Iowa earning All-American honors. Jameson, will be seeking her first All-America accolade.
Senior Murielle Ahoure and junior Kristy Whyte will be the second duo to represent the Hurricanes in an event final as they both advanced to 200-meter championship with their semifinal effort. Both women were in the second of two semifinal heats.
The top four finishers from each heat earned a spot in the final along with the next best individual time. Ahoure placed fourth with a time of 22.78 with Whyte behind her in fifth place at 23.265. Whyte’s time was only better than Nickesha Anderson’s of Kansas by five one-thousandths of a second, as she advances on by the narrowest of margins. Each semifinal time was a career-best for both women, with Ahoure’s time moving her to second all-time at UM.
Both Ahoure and Whyte advanced to the semifinal with their performance in the first round heats. Ahoure won the third of five heats with a time of 23.31 seconds, while Whyte qualified with a time of 23.76 seconds after finishing fourth in the final heat.
Sophomores Ti’erra Brown and Tameka Jameson took first and third place respectively in the second of five first round 400-meter hurdle heats, allowing both to compete in the semifinals, Friday at 7:45 p.m. Brown’s time of 56.90 was a season-best and the second-best time of her career, it was also the second-best time of the opening round, behind only UCLA’s Nicole Leach (56.46). Jameson crossed the line in a time of 58.08 seconds.
Ahoure will be seeking her fourth All-American honor and second National Championship as she will be running in the 100-meter dash final, Friday at 8:35 p.m., after she advanced through the first round and semifinals Wednesday.
The remaining two days of the meet will be streamed live at ncaa.com/champinships and recaps of each day’s event will be available at hurricanesports.com. On Friday, CBS College Sports will begin live televised coverage at 7 p.m. with CBS covering Saturday’s events beginning at 1 p.m.
