Feb. 23, 2007

HOUSTON - The Memphis men's and women's track teams both turned in outstanding performances on day one of competition at the Conference USA Indoor Championships at the University of Houston's Youman Fieldhouse.

As of results submitted by 6:45 p.m. the Lady Tigers led the meet with 21 points and held a one-point lead over second place UAB. The men's team was in a three-way tie for second-place with 27 points.

Women's thrower Gail Lee took home her third conference title with a toss of 65-5.25 in the weight throw. The mark easily surpassed her personal best and school-record distance of 62-6. Lee has now won two C-USA Indoor Titles, both in the weight, and will look for a third tomorrow in the shot put.

The throw also ties Lee for 16th in the weight nationally and sets her up to possibly reach the NCAA Championships in both the weight throw and the shot put, in which she is virtually guaranteed a spot.

Multi-event athlete Eryka Morris led off the day with a fifth-place finish in the women's pentathlon, scoring a school record 3453 points.

Sophomore runner Emily Malinowski also broke her own school record, beating her best in the 5000 meters Friday with a time of 17:10.49. Malinowski finished third overall in the event.

Junior Chen Edri cleared a height of 5-04.5 in the women's high jump, finishing in fifth-place.

In 800-meter preliminaries, freshman Tina Sherratt ran almost four seconds off her season best 2:11.90 but was still fast enough to qualify for the finals, which will be Saturday afternoon.

Senior Brandon Winbush scored in the men's long jump with a third place finish and a distance of 23-6.25. Brian Prackett finished sixth in the men's pole vault with a new indoor personal best height of 14-1.25

In the men's weight throw, Steffen Nerdal took third-place with a mark of 61-7.5, outdistancing his season-best by nearly six inches.

Sam James qualified for the finals of the men's 800 meters with a time of 1:57.46 in the preliminaries.

The only remaining events to be scored Friday were the men's and women's distance medley relays and the women's long jump. The Tigers and Lady Tigers are expecting to gain valuable points in each of these events.

Check back later for updates.