March 10, 2005

Memphis, Tenn. - A momentous first season and semester at Memphis will continue Friday for junior thrower Gail Lee, as she will become the first Lady Tiger track and field athlete ever to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Fort Worth, Texas, native will be only the second U of M woman ever to compete in an NCAA Track and Field Championship when she takes part in the shot put at the indoor meet, which will be held Friday and Saturday, March, 11-12 at the Randal Tyson Track on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. Current student-assistant coach Keenan Gibson was the first Lady Tiger to compete at an NCAA Championship when she ran the 100m and 200m at the 2003 NCAA outdoor meet.

Lee, a transfer from Barton County Community College (Kan.), just joined the U of M squad this semester for the indoor season, but has wasted no time in making her presence felt at both the conference and national levels.

In her first meet for Memphis, the Saluki Booster Invitational on January 22, she recorded a career-best toss and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 52-07.75" (16.04m) in the shot put, which set a new Lady Tiger record, earned her Conference USA Athlete of the Week honors, and eventually qualified her for NCAA Championships. Lee followed that up with consistently strong performances throughout the season and went on to place second in the shot at the C-USA indoor meet.

Beyond her feats in the shot put, Lee also won a conference crown in the weight throw with a toss of 61-07.00" (18.77m), setting a new U of M record and narrowly missing qualifying for the NCAA meet in that event as well.

After such a successful season thus far, Lee will look to cap off the campaign with a top finish at the national meet.

The women's shot put competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday in Fayetteville. Lee enters the meet ranked 12th in the field, which is led by Kimberli Barrett from the University of Miami (Fla.) with a mark of 18.19m.

Live results for the event will be available at the University of Arkansas' websites, www.hogwired.com or www.ladybacks.com with final results to be posted on gotigersgo.com.