June 11, 2008

Check back throughout the day for updates on how the Miners are faring at the meet in Des Moines, Iowa.

Live results are also available by clicking on this link:

NCAA Championship Results

2:35 p.m. MST: UTEP senior Alex van der Merwe moved on to the men's javelin final with a best of 66.28m (217-5) in Wednesday's prelims. His mark was the fifth-best today behind USC's Corey White (71.13m/233-4), Georgia's Chris Hill (69.98m/229-7), Florida's Adam Montague (69.98m/229-7) and LSU's Preston Chatham (67.79m/222-5). The top 12 competitors advance to Friday's 1 p.m. CST (noon MST) final. Van der Merwe entered the meet ranked fourth nationally in the event with a season-long throw of 74.62m (244-10). Winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour kept the distances down today. For van der Merwe, it will be his third straight appearance in the javelin final after taking 12th in both 2006 and 2007.

3:10 p.m. MST: Making her second NCAA appearance, Miner senior Nina Schvedoff came up short in her bid to reach the finals of the women's hammer throw. She also had her season end in the prelims in her only previous trip to nationals in 2005. Schvedoff's top mark was 59.35m (194-9), the 18th-best performance of the day. Arizona State's Sarah Stevens was the 12th qualifier with a heave of 61.14m (200-7).

Due to heavy rains in Des Moines earlier today, the men's hammer throw qualifying round has been pushed back from a 4 p.m. CST start time to 6:30 p.m. CST (5:30 p.m. MST). UTEP will have sophomore Hans Eriksson competing in that event. The men's high jump prelims, with the Miners' Mickael Hanany participating, also has been moved from 6:15 p.m. CST to 9 p.m. CST (8 p.m. MST).

4:12 p.m. MST: The women's 4x100 meter relay of Quashanda Welch, Halimat Ismaila, Shalaiyah Sommerville and Blessing Okagbare moved on to the finals with a school record time of 44.10 seconds. That was the second-fastest time in their heat (behind Texas A&M's 43.19) and fifth fastest overall (eight teams advance). The final is slated for Friday at 7:05 p.m. CST (6:05 p.m. MST).

5:09 p.m. MST: Ismaila took third in her heat in the 100 meter dash to qualify for the semifinals later tonight (7 p.m. CST/6 p.m. MST). Her time was 11.90 seconds, which ranked 11th overall. Elias Koech and Aggrey Chirchir both moved on to Thursday's men's 800 meter run prelims. Koech clocked in at 1:49.34 (fourth in his heat/13th overall) and Chirchir was timed in 1:49.69 (fourth in his heat/14th overall).

5:48 p.m. MST: UTEP's Blessing Okagbare is on to the women's long jump final. Details coming shortly.

6:46 p.m. MST: Ismaila missed qualifying for the 100 meter final. She ran a time of 11.78 seconds, improving on her time of 11.90 seconds from earlier in the day. She was fourth in what was the slower of the two heats due to gusting winds.

7:30 p.m. MST: Patrick Mutai is back in the 3,000 meter steeplechase finals after taking third in the first of two heats. The final will be on Friday night. He also made the finals in 2005 and 2006 before getting knocked out of the prelims a year ago when he was tripped up in the water jump with just under two and a half laps remaining.

7:35 p.m. MST: Okagbare needed only one attempt to make the finals of the women's long jump. Her leap of 6.65m (21-10) was the best of the day. Okagbare passed on her final two attempts.

8:15 p.m.: Hans Eriksson threw a career-long 64.38m (211-3) to make the finals of the men's hammer throw. He had the 11th-best performance of the day, with the top 12 moving on. Assuming Mickael Hanany makes the high jump final later tonight, UTEP will have advanced eight of its 10 competitors today (counting the women's 4x100 relay) to the next round.