March 9, 2006

LAS VEGAS - UNLV sophomore Ashley Owens will be running for a national championship and All-America honors this weekend as she participates in the 60 meters at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, held March 10-11 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Owens ran a blazing 7.20 at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Champions to win the event and automatically qualify for the NCAA meet and will be attempting to become just the third national champion in Rebel history. Sheila Tarr won the heptathlon in 1984 and Trena Hull captured the title in the indoor 1,000 meters in 1987. Owens' time of 7.20 broke the UNLV and MWC records in the event.

The meet, which is held on the campus of the University of Arkansas, gets underway Friday morning with the first event of the men's heptathlon. Owens and the rest of the 60-meter field is schedule to run Friday in the preliminaries at 3:30 p.m. (PST) with the finals coming on Saturday at 4:25 p.m.