Nine Demon Deacons To Compete At NCAA East Track Regional
5/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
May 26, 2004
The Wake Forest track and field team will send nine athletes to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Regional May 28 and 29 on the University of Florida's campus in Gainesville. The events will take place at Florida's 4,000-seat Percy Beard Track where world class athletes such as Dennis Mitchell, Mark Everett, Linford Christie, Maicel Malone and Jearl Miles all trained for the 1996 Olympics.
Seven Demon Deacon female athletes recorded regional qualifying times or marks throughout the outdoor track and field season, including three who qualified in multiple events.
Senior Nikeya Green and junior Anna Sherman will each compete in both the 800m and 1,500m events. Green, the ACC 800m indoor and outdoor champion, ran a 2:04.71 in the 800m at the Georgia Tech Invitational which is the seventh-best time in the nation this season. Sherman, a middle distance specialist, ran a season-best 4:17.80 in the 1,500m at the Georgia Tech Invitational which ranks as the sixth-fastest time in the region.
Junior Annie Bersagel finds herself competing in both the 5,000m and 10,000m competitions over the weekend. Bersagel captured the 10,000m title at the ACC Championships in April with a time of 33:59.14 and ran a 16:24.57 in the 5,000m at the Stanford Invitational back in March to qualify for the regional.
ACC long jump champion Cassy Richards jumped 20-06.00 (6.26m) in that competition back in March and will represent Wake Forest in Gainesville. Sophomore Lindsay Neuberger will compete in the shot put event where she recorded six top-four finishes during the season, including titles at the Penn Relays and JMU Invitational.
Freshman Selina Sekulic took home sixth-place in the 3,000m steeplechase at the ACC Championships with a time of 10:42.87 and looks to improve on that time this weekend. Rounding out Wake Forest's NCAA Regional qualifying women is Carol Lewis whose time of 54.60 in the 400m dash at the Sea Ray Relays was a personal best.
On the men's side, Mike Loyd and Brad Wharton will represent the Demon Deacons this weekend. Loyd's outstanding sophomore year continued during the outdoor season as he posted regional-qualifying times in three different events. Loyd will compete in the 100m, 200m and 110m hurdles. He qualified for both the 100m and 200m at the JMU Invitational where he ran a 10.48 in the 100m and 21.17 in the 200m. Loyd qualified for the 110m hurdles with a 13.97 time at the ACC Championships in March.
Brad Wharton recorded the conference's second-best time (3:45.94) in the 1,500m run at the ACC Championships and will represent Wake Forest in that event at the NCAA East Regional.
Complete results from the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Regional can be found at www.gatorzone.com.
Players Mentioned
