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Cardinals Arrive in Des Moines for NCAA Outdoor Championships
June 9, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - The University of Louisville track and field team arrived in Des Moines, Iowa on Monday afternoon for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships, set for Wednesday through Saturday at Drake Stadium. The Cards have a school record 11 athletes qualified for the national championships. Overall, the Cards have a school record 13 championship bids, including a school record seven bids for the women and six more for the men. Leading the way for the BIG EAST champion women's team will be sophomore Jere' Summers, who earned bids in the shot put and hammer throw. Joining Summers from the U of L's women's team will be senior Taryn Gibson (10,000m), senior captain ZeNai Savage (hammer), junior Seidre Forde (triple jump), sophomore Rachel Gehret (high jump) and sophomore Tarah McKay (1,500m). Gibson was a late addition to the championship list for the Cards. Leading the way for the Cardinal men's team is junior Andre Black, who earned automatic bids in the triple jump and long jump with top five finishes at last week's regional. Joining Black will be senior Chris Danks (800m), senior Soimo Kiplagat (10,000m), junior Rudon Bastian (long jump) and freshman Michael Eaton (10,000m).
"It's been a good week of practice and preparation for our squad and I feel like we're ready to go," said Cards' head coach Ron Mann. "We're excited to be in Des Moines and competing on the biggest stage in collegiate track and field. They do such a wonderful job of supporting the Drake Relays here in Des Moines, and our athletes expect to have the same type of environment this week for the national championships." The meet will begin for the Cards on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. CT, with Savage and Summers in the qualifying round of the women's hammer and will continue with Bastian and Black in the qualifying round of the men's long jump at 3:30 p.m. CT. The opening day of the meet will continue at 4 p.m., with Gehret in the qualifying round of the women's high jump and will conclude with Chris Danks in the opening round of the men's 800m. Thursday's schedule will include the semifinal of the men's 800m at 6:25 p.m. CT, followed by Tarah McKay in the semifinal of the women's 1,500m at 6:55 p.m. Summers will return to action at 7:15 p.m., in the qualifying round of the women's shot put, while the men's long jump final will begin at 7:30 p.m. The final of the women's 10,000m will feature Taryn Gibson at 8:10 p.m., while the final event of the day will feature Michael Eaton in the 10,000m final at 8:50 p.m. Friday's schedule will begin for the Cards at 3:15 p.m. CT with the women's hammer final and will continue at 4:15 p.m., as Black returns to action for the qualifying round of men's triple jump. The women's high jump final is set to begin at 4:45 p.m., while the day's action will conclude for the Cards with Seidre Forde in the qualifying round of the women's triple jump at 7 p.m. Saturday's schedule will begin with the men's triple jump final at 1:00 p.m. CT, followed by the women's shot put final at 1:30 p.m. The women's triple jump final is set for 3 p.m., followed by the men's 800m final at 3:28 p.m., and the women's 1,500m final at 4:12 p.m. There will be two days of live television coverage of the meet, including Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. CT on CBS College Sports Network (formally CSTV) and Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. CT on CBS. |
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