University of Connecticut Athletics
Ten Huskies' to Compete at NCAA East Regional
5/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
May 28, 2009
Schedule of Events
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of Connecticut women's track and field team enters the 2009 NCAA Division I East Regional at N.C. A&T's Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, N.C. after the program's most successful outdoor season and overall year in program history after winning the ECAC Championship and being runner-up at the BIG EAST Championship during outdoor competition, while winning both the BIG EAST and New England titles during the indoor season.
The NCAA East Regional will take place on Friday, May 29 - Saturday, May 30 as ten UConn student-athletes will be participating as they represent the largest group in program history to be representing the Connecticut Huskies.
Leading the way this weekend will be Trisha-Ann Hawthorne in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash as well as Jessica Foreman in the 200-meter dash. Hawthorne and Foreman will join Phylicia George and Monique Hodges in the 4x100 meter relay, which is set to begin on Friday evening at 4:00 p.m. with the preliminaries as the Huskies' four-some is currently ranked 10th in the East and 24th in the nation with a time of 44.95. Hawthorne's best finishes this season have been 11.53 (100 meter) and 23.75 (200 meter), ranking her in the top-50 of the nation in both events.
George will also lead the Huskies in the hurdle events as she will compete in the 100-meter hurdles at 5:20 p.m. on Friday (preliminaries). Mandela Graves-Fulgham will run in the 400-meter dash, as she holds a season-best time of 53.99 this season. George's best finish this season in the 100-meter hurdles was 13.74.
Two-time All-American Carin Knight will headline the fiend events for UConn beginning on Friday morning as Knight is currently ranked No.1 in the high jump. The women's high jump is set for Saturday night; starting at 5:00 p.m. Knight won the East Regional title with a personal record in the high jump as a freshman. The junior also reached a No.6 national ranking last week after winning the high jump at the ECAC Championship with a mark of 1.84 meters (6'0.5").
Freshman Victoria Flowers, who earned All-America status during the indoor season, will compete in both the hammer throw and shot put. She is currently No. 5 in the hammer in the region and 20th in the nation and will lead off the weekend for the Huskies with her first event at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Her throw of 59.55 meters (195' 4") this season has been her best. Amanda Martin and Danika Ham, who are ranked sixth and 10th, respectively, in the region will compete in the javelin to start things off on Saturday morning. Martin's best throw of the season was 49.05 meters (160' 11"), which was accomplished at the ECAC Championship. Ham's season-best throw was 46.36 meters (152' 1").
The format for the NCAA Regional round, which includes four regional sites around the country, allows for the top-five in each event in each region to advance to the national championship. There will also be at-large entrants accepted depending upon the size of each field. The 2009 NCAA Championship will be held at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. on Wednesday, June 10-Saturday, June 13.
"With five individuals ranked in the top-10, we are in position to move on," said head coach Bill Morgan. "It will be an exciting meet with our 'champions' who will once again be asked to step up to a great challenge."
Competition begins Friday, May 29 at 11:00 a.m. with the women's hammer throw trials and finals. A complete schedule of events can be found here or by clicking the above PDF link.
Players Mentioned
