May 28, 2009
LAS VEGAS - UNLV track and field will have five student-athletes competing at the NCAA West Regional which gets underway Friday, and the meet will be held at Heyward Field and hosted by the University of Oregon.
Rebel sprinters Lekeisha Lawson, Shahnel Woodley and Zadia Bryant, hurdlers Candise Maxwell and Christine Lowe, and thrower Amanda Bingson make up the contingent that will be attempting to qualify for the national meet.
"We are very excited about our chances to perform well this weekend," UNLV head coach Yvonne Scott-Williams said. "Hopefully we can come away with some great marks and a trip to Fayetteville for the national championships."
Lawson will be the busiest Rebel at the regional, as the senior is competing in the 100 and 200 meters, while also running a leg on the Rebels' 4x100 meter relay team. Lawson enters the meet with ninth-fastest time in the 100 meters (11.61) in the field and the fourth-best time in the 200 meters (23.62), and this will be the third regional meet for the native of Victorville, Calif.
Maxwell is competing in the 100-meter hurdles, and she has sixth-fastest time in the field with a 13.60, and she will also run a leg on the relay team, as will Woodley and Bryant. The Rebel relay team brings the seventh-fastest time (45.49) in the region to the meet.
Lowe, a freshman who is making her first trip to a regional, will compete in the 400-meter hurdles and she has run a season-best time of 1:00.63 to earn the bid. Bingson rounds out the UNLV group and the fellow freshman qualified in the hammer throw after setting the UNLV school record with a throw of 181-1.00 at the Mountain West Conference Championships.
Friday's opening day of the meet will consist of preliminaries in all the running events, while the only final will feature Bingson in the hammer. The finals of the 100 meters, 200 meters, both hurdle races and the 4x100 relay will be on Saturday.
Fans get can live results of the meet by CLICKING HERE.
The top five finishers and top three relay teams from the 19 women's events will advance on to the NCAA Championships, which will be June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. A top-five finish at one of the four NCAA regionals being conducted around the country this weekend is the only way to guarantee a trip to the national championships. Athletes who finish sixth through 12th at a regional meet will be eligible for an at-large bid to the championships, and those bids are based on the national descending order list and will be announced by noon on Tuesday, June 2.
