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Three Track and Field Athletes Qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships
March 7, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville track and field athletes D'Ana McCarty, Khadija Abdullah and Wesley Smith have earned bids to compete at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas, on Friday, March 11-12, the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee announced late Monday evening. The two-day event will take place at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M University, and ESPN3 will stream the event on Friday, March 11, from 4-8:40 p.m., and Saturday, March 12, from 4-7:50 p.m. The remainder of the event will be streamed live on NCAA.com. ESPN2 will broadcast a tape delay of the event on March 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET. McCarty, the two-time defending weight throw national champion, qualified for the national championships in the shot put and the weight throw. A senior, McCarty posted an NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the weight throw in the season-opener, recording a throw of 22.05/72-4.25 in the event. She has exceeded the NCAA qualifying mark on six different occasions in the weight throw, including her toss of 22.09m/72-5.75, which helped her capture her third BIG EAST weight throw title. Currently, her season-best mark of 22.40m/73-6 ranks fourth nationally. In the shot put, McCarty ranks 19th nationally, with a career-best throw of 16.30m/53-5.75. Abdullah guaranteed her first trip to the national championships in the team's season-opener as well, posting an NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the shot put. She entered the year, with a career-best 15.81m/51-10.5 in the event, but registered a throw of 16.96m/55-7.75 to punch her ticket. For more than a month, Abdullah's mark ranked No. 1 nationally. She has won six of her seven shot put competitions, including her first career BIG EAST indoor title in the event.
Smith, who won the BIG EAST long jump title, opened the indoor season with a career-best 7.82m/25-8 mark in the event; he was eight-hundredths of a meter short of posting an NCAA automatic qualifying mark. A junior, Smith has finished runner-up or better in four of his seven long jump competitions. Currently, his season-opening mark ranks 12th-best nationally. For all of the latest information on Louisville cross country and track and field, log on to uoflsports.com, or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow the team's Twitter account at www.twitter.com/louisvilletrack. |
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