May 17, 2008

Complete Results

EL PASO, Texas - Memphis men's and women's track and field concluded Conference USA Championships tonight. The men's team finished fourth with 111 points, while the women took sixth with 58 points. The UTEP men and Rice women took home team titles this year. The U of M nailed seven individual crowns and 13 NCAA regional qualifying marks to round out the championships.

Memphis earned three 2008 C-USA Outdoor Track and Field awards. Knut Syversen was named the Male Freshman of the Year. Syversen earned 17 points over the championships, scoring in all three of his events. Susan King earned Performance of the Year and High Point Scorer of the Meet (26) for her two-second place finishes and her shot put crown.

Freshman sensation Aaron Whetstone earned his first C-USA title by winning the men's triple jump with a mark of 16.60 meters (54-05.50). His personal-best jump set a new school record, broke the two year old meet record and earned him all-conference first team honors, as he improved his NCAA regional qualifying mark by over four feet. His jump propelled him from the 67th spot in the nation to No.1.

Defending 110 hurdle champion Amaechi Oselukwue successfully defended his title and won the event with a personal-best and NCAA regional qualifying time of 14.16. He finished .12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, beating his prelim time by .25 seconds. Darius Anderson placed seventh with a personal-best time of 15.15 and placed fifth in the 400m hurdles. Richard Lowe took sixth in the 400m hurdles.

Memphis was strong in the throws for the third day straight as Steffen Nerdal earned his second first place title of the championships, as he won the men's discus with a throw of 53.94 meters (177-00). Seth Major was .02 meters behind with a personal-best mark of 53.92m (176-11), good enough for second place and all-conference honors along with Nerdal. Knut Syversen grabbed fourth place honors, just shy of third place by .01 meters.

Susan King earned all-conference second team honors with a runner-up finish in the women's discus. King's mark of 51.91 meters (170-04) is a personal-best and NCAA regional qualifying mark for the senior thrower. Coming in seventh place in the event was Sivan Aballi with a throw of 45.15 meters (138-06).

Memphis will send 12 athletes to the NCAA Mid East regionals. The regionals will be held at the University of Arkansas' Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. from May 30-31.

Men-Team Rankings-21 Events Scored-Final Results
1) UTEP                  171
2) Houston               154.50
3) Rice                  118.50
4) Memphis               111
5) Tulsa                 92
6) Southern Miss         86
7) East Carolina         72

Women - Team Rankings-21 Events Scored-Final Results
1) Rice                   176
2) UTEP                   143.50
3) UCF                    84.33
4) UAB                    71
5) SMU                    64
6) Memphis                58 
7) Tulsa                  52.50
8) Houston                51.50
9) Southern Miss          45
10) Tulane                36
11) Marshall              19.33
12) East Carolina         17.83