June 13, 2003

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- Mate Nemeth placed 12th in the 3000 meter steeplechase at the NCAA Track & Field Championships. Nemeth, a native of Hungary ran a 8:47.54 in the finals of the event. Dan Lincoln of Arkansas ran an 8:26.65 to edge out Jordan Desilets of Eastern Michigan for the 3000m steeplechase national championship.

Nemeth was one of three Memphis Tigers that competed this weekend in Sacramento, along with Gaute Myklebust and Keenan Gibson. Both Gibson and Myklebust failed to advance to the finals in their respective events. This marks the conclusion of the 2003 Memphis Track & Field season which went down in the books as one of the school's most successful years. In 2003 Memphis qualified 12 male athletes and four female athletes for NCAA Reguionals and three advanced to the NCAA Championships. This year's Tiger sqaud combined to set new school records in nine events.

Louisiana State University won its 25th Women's Track & Field National title scoring 64 points to top Texas which scored 50 points and South Carolina who scored 47 points. On the Men's side Arkansas scored 59 points to edge out Auburn (50), Southern Cal (41.5) and LSU (36).

Team points are accumulated through individual placing in event finals. Ten points are awarded for a first place finish, eight for a second place finish, six points for a third place finish, four points for a fourth place finish, two points for a fifth place finish, one point for a six place finish and .5 points for placing seventh in an event.

Women's 1, LSU, 64; 2, Texas, 50; 3, South Carolina, 47; 4, Florida, 36; 5, Nebraska, 33; 6, Indiana, 32; 7, North Carolina, 30; 8, UCLA 28; 9, Stanford, 27; 10, Penn State, 24; 11, Georgia, 22; 12, Washington St., 21; 13, Southern Cal, 19; 14, Auburn, 18; 15, BYU, 17.5; 16, Cal Poly-SLO, 16.5; 17, Oregon, 14.5; 18, Miami (Fla.), 14; 19, Arkansas, 13.5; 20. Yale and Idaho, 13.

Men's 1, Arkansas, 59; 2, Auburn, 50; 3, Southern Cal, 41.5; 4, LSU. 36; 5, Nebraska, 33; 6, Florida, 32; 7, Tennessee and Stanford, 30; 9, Minnesota, 29; 10, South Carolina, 22; 11, Penn and Texas A&M, 20; 13, Oregon, 19.25; 14, Georgia and TCU, 19; 16, Middle Tennessee St., 17; 17, Texas Tech and SMU, 16; 19, UCLA, 14.5; 20, Mississippi St., 13.