June 9, 2006

Final Stats

Sacramento, Calif. - University of Houston sophomore sprinter Ebonie Floyd and the men's 400-meter relay team earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday afternoon.

Floyd was the runner-up in the first of two semifinal races in the 200 meters with a time of 22.98 seconds one day after her left hamstring tightened up in the 100-meter semifinals and knocked her out of the 100-meter final. Kelly Ann Baptiste of LSU won the race in 22.74 seconds.

"I was nervous at the beginning of the race and was trying to get out and catch the other runners coming around the curve," Floyd said. "I was in pretty good position with only Kelly in front of me. I just told myself I am going to sit right here because if I would have pushed hard I would have probably hurt myself."

"My leg is feeling okay because yesterday when I finished running it was painful to walk or sit for a while. That has gone away and it is feels tight along with my back, but I guess that is part of running."

In the men's 400-meter relay final, Houston earned All-America honors for the second straight year as Preston Perry, Vincent Marshall, Tremaine Smith and Kolee Latson combined to finish in eighth place with a time of 40.20 seconds.

The Cougars were running without their regular anchor runner, Carey LaCour, who re-injured his left hamstring in the opening round of the 200-meter dash, an event in which he was ranked seventh nationally in the May 31 Trackwire Dandy Dozen poll and earned All-America honors at last year's NCAA Championships.

LaCour originally injured his hamstring in practice two days after Houston beat UTEP in the 400-meter relay at the Drake Relays and has been nursing the injury ever since.

LSU won the event with the sixth fastest time in NCAA history with 38.44 seconds. Tennessee was second in 38.86 and UTEP finished in third place with a time of 38.99 seconds.

Perry's hopes for All-America honors came up just short as he finished sixth in his heat with a time of 20.900, while Chris Dykes of Texas A&M finished with a time of 20.892 for the ninth and final position.

"I just went out there and competed," Perry said. "I had not run a good race at the Midwest Regional or in the first round so I just wanted to go out and run a good race. Starting in lane two you have to run hard just to get in the race."

"I went out and ran well in this race," Perry said. "I just wished I had gotten into the final."

Caresir Hamilton had a 15th-place finish in the women's triple jump with a leap of 12.75 meters (41' 10") while jumping into a slight head wind of 1.0 meter per second. It was her second-best performance overall this season. She set a school record with a mark of 43' 4 ½" at the Conference USA Championships earlier this season.

Rachel Easley ended the first day of the heptathlon with 3,153 points through the first four events. She began the day scoring 874 points in the 100-meter hurdles after finishing with a time of 14.76 seconds. Easley cleared 1.69 meters (5' 6 ½") in the high jump to score 842 points. She had a throw of 12.17 meters (39'11 ¼") in the shot put to score 672 points. Easley ended her day with a time of 26.37 seconds to score 765 points in the 200-meter dash.

She enters Saturday's final three events in 15th place and will complete the final three events-long jump, javelin and 800 meters.