Men's Entry List

Women's Entry List

MOBILE, Ala. – Beginning on Thursday, seven University of South Alabama track and field student-athletes will compete at the East Regional preliminary rounds attempting to advance to the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
The prelims will be held at North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The three-day event will feature the top-48 Division I student-athletes from each outdoor event in the eastern region of the United States, all competing for top-12 positions in order to advance to the finals, which will be held on June 6-9 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
Of the seven Jaguars participating, four are seniors, and each senior has previously competed at the regional level. Latifah Johnson will employ the most experience among them, as the Pensacola, Fla., native prepares for her third consecutive preliminary appearance.
 
Johnson is seeded 12^th in the women’s hammer throw on a season-best and South Alabama-record throw of 60.24m – a measure Johnson recorded in her Sun Belt Conference Championship victory 10 days ago. Competing alongside Johnson will be sophomore Bobbie Williamson, who is seeded 44^th in the event (55.41m) and will get her first taste of regional competition.
 
Joey Torres, scheduled to take part in both the discus and hammer throws, carries the highest seed for the Jags, as he ranks seventh in the former – 24 spots better than last year – on a season-best 56.23m mark and 31^st in the latter. Last season, Torres finished 13^th in the discus, just 0.25m short of 12^th-place Marcus Popenfoose of Auburn.
 
Demetre Baker will also compete in two events this weekend: the discus throw and shot put. Baker is seeded 15^th in the discus and 24^th in the shot put on marks of 54.20m and 17.72m, respectively.
 
Stephen Calogrides qualified 41^st in the men’s javelin (63.92m), which is six places better than his position last season, where he eventually finished 29^th. In the women's division, Leah Hixon qualified with a PR of 43.22m that she set in the javelin trial competition of the women’s heptathlon at the SBC Championships, an event that saw her take third overall and finish with all-conference honors.

Angela McCord will compete in the women’s javelin for the second time in her career, with her season-best 43.82m throw earning the 39^th seed. After claiming the event at the SBC Championships, McCord qualified 13^th for the 2010 East Regionals and eventually finished 20^th.
 
Calogrides will open competition for the Jaguars, as the men’s javelin is set for 11 a.m. on Thursday with the men’s discus beginning two hours later, followed by the women’s javelin at 4:30 p.m.
 
Results from regional competition will be posted to the Jaguar athletics webpage immediately following each day’s events. Live results can be tracked here.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).