TicketsMay 20, 2011
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati will send 19 track and field student-athletes to the NCAA East Region Preliminary Championship, which will take place from May 26-28 at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University.
The women's squad will send a program-record 14 student-athletes to the meet, including a pair of school record-holding relay squads and five individual school record holders.
Senior Natasha Burse holds school records in the 100 meters (11.53), 200 meters (23.54), and 4x100 relay (45.06). She finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 and 200 meters at the BIG EAST Championships earlier this month, while leading the 4x100 team to a second-place finish.
Kathy Klump (800 meters), Mackenzie Fields (pole vault), and Mary Bridges (discus) will also compete as UC record holders. Vaulter Michele Eby makes her second straight NCAA appearance after a sixth-place finish at the BIG EAST Championship.
Junior Aricka Rhodes, who placed second in the BIG EAST in the 400 meters, makes her first NCAA appearance, as does 110-meter hurdler Paris Campbell.
The field events will be well represented, as three pole vaulters, two shot putters, and a pair of discus throwers will compete for the Bearcats. Freshman vaulter Sarah Rasnick joins Eby and Fields on the runway while four underclassmen compete in the throws.
Frida Askerstrom set the UC freshman record in the shot put this season with a 49' 7-1/4" heave and she is joined in the shot by sophomore Jessica Cobb. A pair of freshmen will compete in the discus, led by Mary Bridges, who set a school record with a 160' 4" throw. Jessica Molyet wasn't far behind, posting a 160' 1" heave during her freshman campaign.
The Bearcats' school-record 4x400 relay squad, fresh off a BIG EAST Championship, will look to improve on its 3:38.43 performance.
The Bearcats men will be led by a pair of BIG EAST champions in junior Terence Somerville and senior Eric Finan.
Somerville, the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Track Performer, is currently No. 15 in the IAAF world rankings in the 110 hurdles (13.44). He won the BIG EAST title and also captured the 110 hurdles title at the prestigious Drake Relays, earning the Maury White Award as the top performer at the world-class meet in April.
Finan was the BIG EAST champ in the 5000 meters and had an outstanding cross country season in 2010, winning the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship and earning the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Athlete of the Year.
The men will also be represented by juniors Jake Haseman (discus) and Tommy Marks (pole vault) and redshirt freshman Josh Dangel (pole vault). The Top 12 individuals and Top 12 finishers in the relays will advance to the NCAA Championship on June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.