University of Connecticut Athletics
Wilson, Blount Qualify For NCAA Championship
5/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
STANFORD, CA (May 11, 2002) – Senior All-Americans Elliott Blount (Freeport, NY) and Dan Wilson (West Haven, CT) of the University of Connecticut men’s track and field team both posted NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship qualifying performances late Friday night at the Cardinal Qualifier at Stanford University.
In timed section finals, Wilson finished first in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:40.00, coming in well under the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:41.5. Wilson’s effort was the second-fastest time of the season for a collegian behind David Kimani of Alabama. Previously, Wilson had posted provisional qualifying efforts at the Sea Ray Relays and second Husky Invitational, but his performance Friday night guarantees a spot for the senior at the NCAA Championship in Baton Rouge, LA, at the end of this month.
Blount ran to a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:48.47 to qualify provisionally for the NCAA Championship. Blount, who also appeared at the NCAA Indoor Championship in the 800-meter run earlier this year, needed to post a time of 1:49.00 or below to qualify for a provisional spot.
Junior All-American Joe Mendel (Wayne, NJ) was also trying to notch an NCAA-qualifying performance this weekend at the Carolina Last Chance Qualifier at the University of North Carolina on Saturday. Mendel ran to a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash with time of 46.45. The NCAA provisional qualifying standard is 46.30.
Both Mendel and Blount’s times were new school records.
Mendel, Wilson and Blount will be back in action with the rest of the UConn men’s track and field team next weekend at the IC4A Championship at Princeton University. The meet is the last of the season before the NCAA Championship. The squad elected not to compete at this weekend’s New England Outdoor Championship at Northeastern University.
