Cardinals Ready for NCAA Championships
June 09, 2010 | Men's Track and Field
June 8, 2010
EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Louisville track and field team is in Eugene, Ore. and ready to compete in anticipation of the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 9-12 at the historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. U of L will have seven athletes (four women, three men) competing in eight events at the national championships.
"It is a great honor for the University of Louisville to be so well represented at the National Finals in Track and Field" said head coach Ron Mann.
Representing the cardinal women are hammer throwers D'Ana McCarty, who also will compete in the discus, Jere' Summers and Lindsey Cook and long jumper Charachesicia Lockhart.
Senior Jere' Summers placed third out of 48 competitors at the East Regional to advance to the national championship. Summers fouled on five out of six attempts but her second attempt was good for a third-place throw of 201-04 (61.38m). Summers entered the Regional meet with the fourth-best throw in the East Region this season of 207-04 (63.20m).
Senior Lindsey Cook placed fifth in the women's hammer throw at the East Regional with a toss of 192-10 (58.79m). Cook completed all of her throws with her six and final attempt being her best. Cook, who is from Borden, Ind., finished third in the hammer at the 2010 BIG EAST Championships and has really had her best season as a cardinal.
Junior D'Ana McCarty, a two-time National Champion and All-American in the indoor weight throw, placed tenth in the hammer throw at the East Regional with a heave of 186-07 (56.87m). McCarty fouled on three out of six attempts with her third attempt being her best. McCarty placed ninth in the women's discus with a throw of 170-0 (51.82m) to advance to the NCAA National Championship.
"We have had a quality outdoor season. The BIG EAST Championship Meet went about as good as could have been dreamed. We came out better than we had hoped" said throwing coach Dale Cowper. "I certainly think they can come out with some All-America awards and score some points on the women's side. Our objective is to just to go in and compete and not get hung up on any ideas that this is a bigger competition than anything else. Our objective every week is to come out and compete to the best of our ability and let the marbles role where they may."
Lockhart, a sophomore from Dallas, Texas, broke the former school-record in the long jump held by current Cardinal Rachel Gehret and formal Cardinal Seidre Forde by half an inch with her leap of 20-05.75 (6.24m) at the East Regional and will look forward to competing in her first NCAA Championship.
Representing the cardinal men in Eugene are jumpers Tone Belt and Andre Black and distance runner Matt Hughes.
Senior Tone Belt looked to be back in the same form that won him the 2007 Indoor National Championship in the long jump by placing fifth out of 48 competitors at the East Regional with a mark of 25-01.25 (7.65m). Belt, a seven-time All-American, will be one of the top long jumpers entering the meet.
Senior Andre Black, the 2007 indoor national champion in the triple jump and four-time All-American, placed fourth out of 48 competitors in the men's triple jump with a leap of 52-11.50 (16.14m) at the East Regional. The mark was Black's best of the season and the fifth-best in school history. Black has improved in almost every meet since rebounding from an early season hamstring injury and will be looking to do so again this week.
Hughes, a junior from Oshawa, Ont., broke the school-record in the men's 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 8:34.87 to place first out of 47 competitors at the East Regional. That time is the fastest in the NCAA this season. Hughes has been near the top of the NCAA in the event all season and will look to contend for the championship.
"Our expectation for Matt is for him to advance from the semi-final to the finals" said distance coach Brice Allen. "He needs to put himself in the position with about 600-meters to go that will allow for a championship race. There are seven men in that race that have run within three-to-four seconds of his time. My challenge for Matt is to put himself in a position with about 600-meters to go where he is contending and then to run the last 60-meters over the final barrier as fast as he can and get his plant foot down as quickly as possible."
Day one of the championships will commence on Wednesday at 1:00 P.M. (PST) with the women's heptathlon 100-meter hurdles and wrap up at 7:15 P.M. with the women's 10,000-meter final.
For the most up-to-date information on Louisville track and field and all of your favorite Cardinal athletes, visit www.uoflsports.com.
