March 17, 2008

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA had seven student-athletes earn eight NCAA Indoor Track and Field All-America honors last weekend. C-USA had 15 student-athletes qualify for the 2008 championships in Fayetteville, Ark. The two-day event was hosted at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

C-USA INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD NOTEBOOK & TOP PERFORMANCES - MARCH 19

Taking the highest honor was two-time All-American Blessing Okagbare of UTEP. Okagbare captured silver medalist merits in the women's long jump with a leap of 6.68m (21-11.0). This is the highest individual finish for a C-USA representative since Houston's Jenny Adams won gold in the event with an identical mark in 2001. Okagbare also placed fourth (13.57m/44-06.25) in the triple jump, while senior teammate Nelly Tchayem repeated her All-American status in this event with a fifth-place mark (13.43m/44-00.75). Okagbare holds the school's and conference's records in both events.

The duo led the Miners to a 13th-place finish with 17 points, the best performance by a C-USA team since 2001 when the Houston women placed seventh.

Memphis scored six points behind the All-American performances of senior Susan King and freshman Charlotte Abrahamsen. Abrahamsen, who was the only freshman in the event, placed eighth in the pentathlon by scoring 4,103 points. In the shot put, she recorded a first-place toss of 15.09m, setting a new NCAA Indoor Championship shot put record for the pentathlon. King ended her indoor collegiate career with the fifth-best throw of 16.91m (55-05.75) in the shot put. She holds the school record in the indoor shot and is the 2008 C-USA champion.

The duo appeared in their first national championship, while Memphis has sent competitors to the NCAA indoor event three of the last four years.

Tulane senior All-American Gloria Asumnu finished seventh in the finals of 60-meter dash, running 7.29. She completes her collegiate career, having been named an All-American three times, and with a total of six school records and one Conference USA record. She is the only female student-athlete in C-USA history to win four conference championships in a single event (indoor 60m). She was also named Performer of the Meet at the C-USA Indoor Championships in both 2007 and 2008.

UAB senior Elizabeth Ambrus earned All-America status in the 5,000m after placing eighth with a time of 16:18.92, earning her biggest individual accolade of her collegiate career. She also becomes the first UAB All-American since 1996. This was Ambrus' fourth national championship meet appearance. She ran in the 2005 and 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships and the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championship.

For the men, Houston senior Ivan Diggs finished fourth in the men's high jump, clearing 2.19m (7-02.25) for his second All-American honor. Diggs improved upon his 2007 NCAA mark of 7-00.25 that placed eighth.

The four other Miners competed at nationals but missed qualifying for the finals in their respective events. Junior Dominic Tanui finished ninth with a time of 1:49.91 in the 800-meter run followed by senior Elias Koech in 10th place with a time of 1:50.12. Senior Kelly Young finished 10th in the women's 800-meters clocking in at 2:07.81 and senior Halimat Ismaila finished 18th with a time of 7.43 in the 60 meters.

Also competing at nationals was Southern Miss senior Cornelius Duncan, who finished 13th in the 400m with a time of 47.45. Houston junior Seun Adigun competed in the women's 60m hurdles but false started in the prelims. UCF freshman Lizzie Harris also placed ninth in the women's high jump with a clearance of 1.80m (5-10.75).