June 7, 2011

Heat Sheets                                                                    Final Schedule

400m Hurdles - Field Breakdown                           Championship Central

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Senior Richard Lowe will represent the University of Memphis Tiger track and field squad at this year’s NCAA Track and Field Championships, hosted by Drake University, beginning Wednesday with the semifinals of the 400m hurdles scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on the Jim Duncan Track at Drake Stadium.

This is Lowe’s second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships in the 400m hurdles. Last season, he finished 20th with a 52.58s run. Of the 24 competitors in last year’s 400m hurdles event, 11 return to the NCAA Championships this season; six of those returners were All-Americans in 2010.

For his part, Lowe is the only representative in the 400 hurdles from Conference USA, and one of only three individual competitors from a C-USA school on the track.

Lowe has faced off against four of the competitors from this year’s NCAA field. In addition to seeing Ole Miss’ Carson Blanks and Lee Moore, a native of nearby Cordova, on four occasions (Rhodes Invite, Ole Miss Invite, War Eagle Invite, Mississippi Open), Lowe competed against Blanks, Moore, Georgia’s Phillip Adams and Iowa’s Ethan Holmes, April 16, at Auburn’s War Eagle Invite.

After lowering his school-record mark in the event to 50.37 seconds at the C-USA Championships, Lowe advanced to this point by finishing second in his first-round heat at the NCAA Preliminary Regional, two weeks ago, in Bloomington, Indiana. Lowe defeated Blanks and a returning qualifier from 2010, Rutgers’ Aaron Younger, in the quarterfinal on his way to Des Moines.

Lowe will compete in the second heat, out of the sixth lane, in the semifinals. He will be in the same heat as defending national champion Jeshua Anderson of Washington State, as well as 2010 All-American Reggie Wyatt from USC and Jon Degrave from host Drake.

In quarterfinal action in Bloomington, Lowe won the first heat with a blistering 50.62s run, leaving Indiana as the fourth overall qualifier from the East Region.

If Lowe advances to the national final, not only will he become the first Tiger to reach the final in the 400m hurdles but will also become Memphis’ first outdoor All-American in the hurdles since Terron Wright was a national champion in 1981 in the now-defunct 60-yard hurdles. Should Lowe advance to the final, he will compete Friday, at 6:45 p.m. (CT).

Live Stats and Streaming video will be provided by the NCAA. Click on the Championship Central link at the top of this release to find links for both, as well as all links related to the NCAA Championships.