Seward Wins NCAA East Regional Title in Long Jump
May 25, 2007
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior Amy Seward took first place in the finals of the long jump Friday to lead the University of Miami women’s track and field team at the 2007 NCAA East Regional Championships held at the University of Florida’s James G. Pressley Stadium at Percy Beard Track.
Seward’s first-place mark of 21-01.50 feet (6.44m) topped Monmoth’s Tisifenee Taylor second-place mark by three quarters of an inch and earned her an automatic berth into the NCAA National Championships held June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.
“It’s truly a blessing to win. This is my highest finish at regionals in the four years that I’ve been here. I just really wanted to go out with a bang,” said Seward. “Hopefully this will boost me to make finals in Sacramento, and I want to finish the year better than I ever have before.”
The UM 4×100-meter relay team of freshman Kristy Whyte, sophomore Krista Simkins, Seward and freshman Ashley Dukes ran the sixth-fastest time during Friday’s prelims, clocking in at 44.78 seconds to advance to Saturday’s finals.
In the 400-meter prelims, senior Ginou Etienne advanced to the finals with the seventh-fastest time (52.87) of the day while Simkins earned a berth into the finals of the 200-meters with a time of 23.10 – the fifth fastest of the day.
Also competing on Friday was junior Misti Barber who finished 13th in the finals of the shot put with a mark of 48-08.00 feet (14.83m), sophomore Viktoria Andonova who placed 14th in the finals of high jump with a mark of 5-07.25 (1.71m), freshman Deandra Doyley who placed 29th in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.28 seconds, Dukes who ran the 25th-fastest prelim time (12.03) in the 100-meters, sophomore Ena Leufroy who finished 22nd in the 800-meter prelims with a time of 2:14.29 and senior Brenda Faluade who finished seventh in the long jump with a mark of 20-02.50 (6.16m).
Competition will conclude Saturday beginning with the 4×100-meter relay finals at 5:40 p.m. before wrapping up with the 4×400-meter relay final at 8:50 p.m.
