May 16, 2008

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Miami University women's track and field team put themselves in position for an exciting Saturday by securing several top seeds and scoring in the heptathlon in Friday qualifying at the MAC Championships in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Margarita Pogorelov earned the top-spot in the 100-meter dash prelims with an NCAA Regional qualifying time of 11.73. She also qualified for the 200-meter finals with a season-best time of 24.23.

DeLana Turner qualified for both the MAC finals and the NCAA Regionals with a 13.85 in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles. Alexis Lape qualified for the 400-meter hurdle finals with a time of 1:01.45, seeding her third.

Nicki Mitchell took seventh in the heptathlon with 4589 points. On Friday, Mitchell ran the 800 meters in 2:21.76 and threw the javelin 73-6. She also went 17-6 ¼ in the long jump.

Amanda Mirochna set the pace in the 1500-meter prelims, coming in at 4:35.30. Katie Lenahan qualified for the 800-meter finals with a season-best time of 2:15.28.

Ruth Rasch finished just outside the finals-qualifiers in the 400 meters with a time of 58.18. Jessica DeWitt missed qualifying for the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals, running an 11:48.78.

Events on Saturday begin at the Whittacker Track in Bowling Green at 10:30 a.m.