April 19, 2008

ATHENS, Ga. ---- The Samford track and field team had a good showing Saturday at the Bulldog Unlimited hosted by the University of Georgia. Lauren Blankenship, Morgan Tyler and Jessica Lucas all set new school records while Michael Smith qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regionals.

Blankenship set a new school record of 10:38.85 in the two-mile run Saturday and took first place in the event. Lucas set a new personal best and new school record in the javelin with a throw of 122'05", earning her fourth place in the event.

Tyler earned second place in the 400-meter hurdles with her school record time of 1:01.73, just missing the regional qualifying mark by a little less than a second. Tyler also set a new personal best in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.52, earning her sixth place and she took third in the triple jump with a leap of 38'10.25".

Smith qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52.39 and taking fourth while also setting a new personal best in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 110-meter hurdles.

Seven more Bulldogs set new personal best at the Bulldog Unlimited.

Ashley Flowers took second in the 400-meter dash with a personal best of 55.92 while Ashley Dance took third in the same event with a personal best of 56.23. Dance also had a personal best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.32, earning fourth place while Britney Almaguar won the women's mile with a personal best of 5:06.45.

Alex Gainous took 15th place in the men's 200-meter dash with a personal best of 22.48 while Drew Anderwald set a new school record with an eighth-place time of 9.41.69 in the men's two mile run.

Ryan Fee set a personal best in the javelin, hammer and discus. He took seventh place in the javelin with a throw of 139'06", 10th in the hammer throw with a toss of 114'07" and seventh in the discus with a distance of 125". Kyle Brown had a personal best of 176'09" in the javelin throw, earning third place, while also taking seventh place in the hammer throw with a toss of 129'07".

The Bulldogs will compete in one final outdoor competition before participating in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships. Samford will go to the Stanford Cardinal Invitational in California next Saturday, April 26. The OVC Championships, hosted by Southeast Missouri, follows the next weekend, May 2-3.