May 29, 2008

Weekly Notes in PDF Format

NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's track and field team will compete at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, at John McDonnell Outdoor Track in Fayetteville, Ark., on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

Competing for the Green Wave will be senior Shanon Beelendorf in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Valencia Wilson in the 400-meter dash and sophomore Nicolette Taku in the triple jump. Also, the 4x400-meter relay team will attempt a run at the NCAA Championships, and consists of Beelendorf, junior Vanessa Kienast, sophomore Jasmine Momoh and Wilson, with freshman Aieshia Brooks serving as an alternate.

This season marks the sixth consecutive year the Green Wave has qualified at least one runner for the NCAA Regional, which began in 2003, and coincides with every season that head coach Heather Van Norman has been with the program.

"I just think that we have a lot of great talent that's on our team that obviously really shined," Van Norman said of having athletes in regional competition for the sixth consecutive year. "I think the fact that we've had these qualifiers for the NCAA Regional is great. It's a great thing, I think, for our university and our Tulane community. This kind of piggy-backs with our baseball team, which is always exciting in the springtime."

Click here for live results of the Mideast Regional.

Wilson qualified for the regional during the preliminary heats of the Conference USA Championships on May 16 and the 4x400 relay team qualified during competition at the conference championships on May 17 as well. Beelendorf qualified with a personal-best time of 1:00.12, which is the third best time in school history, on April 19 at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational.

Taku qualified for the regional in the triple jump for the second year in a row, with a personal-best mark of 12.40m (40-08.25), on April 12 at the Ole Miss Invitational. Kienast has run with the 4x400 relay team all year, and Momoh and Brooks have interchanged in the role of the fourth member.

The top five finishers of each event and the top three finishers of the relay events automatically advance to the NCAA Championships on June 11-14. The top 12 finishers are eligible for at-large selection that will be determined after all of the automatic qualifiers are entered, and will fill out the heats of each event.

A recap and final results of the meet, as well as all Green Wave track and field news, interviews and results are available on the web at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.