May 2, 2008

NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's track and field team receives its final test before the Conference USA Championships when it travels to Oxford, Miss., for the Mississippi Open Saturday held at the Ole Miss Track and Field Complex.

The Green Wave is travelling a small group of student-athletes to Mississippi, while the rest of the team trains for the C-USA Championships and prepares for final exams they have early next week. Sophomore Valencia Wilson will run the 400-meter dash, while junior Vanessa Kienast runs the 400-meter hurdles, and junior thrower Katarina Busljeta competes in the discus and the hammer throw.

Freshmen Rebecca Coady, Laurie Dalrymple and Caitlin Hornbeck will run the 1,500 meters, and Coady will run the 800 meters.

So far in 2008, Tulane has qualified three athletes for either NCAA regional or championship competition. Senior Aubrey Phillips qualified directly for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000m run with a provisional time of 34:53.01. Senior Shanon Beelendorf qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.12, while sophomore Nicolette Taku qualified for the regional in the triple jump with a personal best mark of 12.40m (40-08.25). The Conference USA Championships are in two weeks, May 15-17, in El Paso, Texas.

A recap and final results of the meet, as well as all Green Wave track and field news, interviews and results are available on the web at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.