Track Set For 2010 NCAA East Regional
May 25, 2010 | Track & Field
May 25, 2010
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The East Carolina track and field program will send 13 athletes to the 2010 NCAA East Regional, scheduled for May 27-29 at the Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T.
Five Pirates head to Greensboro as Conference USA champions in Drew Kanz O'Shea (high jump), Dennis Aliotta (shot put), Matthew McConaughey (javelin), Tynita Butts (high jump) and Maegan Lewis (hammer throw). Additionally, Butts is the reigning indoor and outdoor C-USA Freshman-of-the-Year.
The Pirate contingent, consisting of seven women and six men, represents the most athletes ECU has sent to a NCAA regional in a single season, topping the 11 that qualified last season. Butts also looks for a return to the national meet after just missing out on All-America honors with a 10th-place finish in the high jump at the 2010 Indoor NCAA Championships.
Butts headlines the participation on the women's side, as she posted a 6.22-meter effort in the long jump and a 1.75-meter mark in the high jump, numbers that rank 13th and 35th in the East region, respectively. Nicole Tozzi easily qualified for the regional, throwing 48.14 meters in the javelin to put herself at 7th in the region and 31st nationally.
Two-time C-USA champion in the hammer throw, Lewis heads to Greensboro with a mark of 58.77 meters and a regional ranking of 16th. Donisha Brown and Kim Kanala also join Lewis in the hammer, producing marks of 54.75 and 54.52 meters.
Brittany Copeland and Camelia Morman round out the women's side, as Copeland possesses a 16:25.95 time in the 5000-meter run and Morman a mark of 12.58 in the triple jump. Morman's effort is ranked 26th in the region.
Aliotta will participate in two events, the shot put and hammer throw, owning 17.85 and 61.48-meter marks. He ranks 21st in the region in the shot put and 24th in the hammer throw.
In the javelin, McConaughey and Spencer Barrick represent the first and second-place C-USA finishers with marks of 69.31 and 67.92 and No. 6 and 16 rankings in the region. McConaughey is also 22nd nationally.
Kanz jumped 2.13 meters at the C-USA Outdoor Championships, winning a jump-off for the conference title, and enters the regional ranked 26th in the East.
As for the hurdles, Randy Bolton will represent the Pirates in the 110-meter high hurdles with a time of 14.28 while Mario Briscoe enters the 400-meter intermediate hurdles checking in at 51.80. Briscoe is currently ranked 26th in the region.
The top 48 entries for each event in the East and West regions qualified for the preliminary races. The top 12 finishers in each preliminary event from each region advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, scheduled for June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore., at host Oregon's Hayward Field.
