| Heidi Nadeau qualified for the javelin final on Thursday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. The Lions continue competition today. |
SACRAMENTO, Calif.; June 7, 2007 ?C Posting her best throw of the day on her final attempt, junior Heidi Nadeau (North Hampton, N.H.) advanced to the final of the women??s javelin in dramatic fashion, Thursday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Freshman Aleesha Barber (Decatur, Ga.) also made it through, qualifying for the semi-finals of the 400-meter hurdles. Sophomore Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.) is on PR pace in the women??s heptathlon, scoring a career-best day one total of 3387, which puts her in ninth overall after four events.
Nadeau, who was throwing as the final athlete in the final flight of the preliminaries, launched a throw of 159-8 on her last attempt, claiming a spot in Saturday??s final. Nadeau??s mark was the 11th best among the 12 athletes who will advance to the championship round.
Barber won her preliminary heat, closing hard off the last hurdle to finish in 57.82 and automatically qualify for tomorrow??s semi-finals. Barber??s next round is set for 6:55 p.m. PST on Friday. Senior Kim Markel (Wexford, Pa.) placed 22nd in the prelims, running 59.93.
Hunter started the day with a bang, clocking 13.68, good for 1,024 points, in the 100-meter hurdles ?C a personal collegiate best, as well as the fourth-fastest time of the day. Hunter went on to clear 5-4.25 (1.63) in the high jump, earning another 771 points. The sophomore also had a career day in the shot put, posting a personal-record 37-0.50 (11.29) worth 614. In 16th going into the afternoon??s final event, Hunter vaulted to ninth in the overall standings, running 24.03 ?C the best time of the day - in the 200, earning 979 points. Hunter will close out the two-day competition on Friday morning, beginning with the long jump at 11:30 a.m. PST.
Also running on Thursday was the Nittany Lion 4x400-meter relay team of Dominique Blake (Bronx, N.Y.), Briene Simmons (Decatur, Ga.), Hunter, and Shana Cox (Westbury, N.Y.), who combined to clock 3:33.40 to finish 10th overall ?C less than a second shy of a spot in the final.
The meet rolls on tomorrow with Hunter, Cox, Tanner Evak (State College, Pa.) and Bridget Franek (Hiram, Ohio) slated to compete.