June 12, 2003

Sacramento, Calif. - University of Houston sprinters Stanford Routt and Ebonie Floyd advanced to the semifinal rounds of the men's 200-meter dash and women's 400-meter dash, respectively, at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Thursday afternoon.

Routt, the Midwest Regional 200-meter champion, had the third fastest time with 20.94 seconds in the third of four heats to automatically qualify for Thursday night's semifinal. Christopher Lambert of Harvard won the third heat with the fastest preliminary time of 20.71 seconds. Ahmad Carroll also automatically qualified for the semifinals when he finished in second place with a time of 20.89 seconds. Routt edged Kyle Farmer of Florida who had a fourth-place finish in the heat with an identical time of 20.94 seconds.

The other semifinalists in the men's 200-meter dash included heat winners Jonathan Wade of Tennessee, who won the second heat with a time of 20.95 seconds, Alabama's Latonel Williams won the fourth heat with a time of 20.95 seconds and Leo Bookman of Kansas, who won the first heat with a time of 21.19 seconds. The other runners are Brendan Christian of Texas, Jerome Mathis of Hampton, Kenneth Baxter of Purdue, Robert Parham of LSU, Marquis Davis and Pierre Brown of Mississippi State, Sheldon Morant of Florida A&M, Jairo Duzant of UTEP, Adam Wooten of Sam Houston State, Wes Felix of USC and Curtis Johnson of UT-San Antonio.

Floyd, the Conference USA Freshman-of-the-Year, finished fourth in the second heat with a time of 53.09 seconds. Her father, Stanley Floyd, was a sprinter at Houston and was the 1980 NCAA 100-meter champion. Her mother, Delissa Walton-Floyd, was the 1982 NCAA 800-meter champion while competing at Tennessee.

Sanya Richards of Texas won the second heat with a time of 52.18 seconds, and her teammate, Moushaumi Robinson, was second with a time of 52.47 seconds. Shellene Williams of Iowa finished third with a time of 52.85 seconds, while Tiffany Barnes of Delaware State was fifth in a time of 53.78 seconds.

Beckford had the fastest preliminary time when she won the first heat in 51.80 seconds. Charlotte Greggs of Miami won the third heat in 51.85, Hazel-Ann Regis of LSU won the fourth heat in 52.25 and Dee Dee Trotter of Tennessee won the fifth heat with a time of 52.52 seconds.

Floyd will be joined in the semifinals by Beckford, Richards, Robinson, Williams, Gregs, Regis, Trotter, Monique Henderson of UCLA, Tonette Dyer of San Diego State , Novlene Williams of Florida , Jessica Fox of Wyoming , Nadia Davy of LSU , Marsha Dawkins of Oral Roberts , Cassandra Reed of Arizona State , Sophia Smellie of Seton Hall.

The women's 400-meter semfinals are scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Houston's Courtnie Ratliff had a preliminary time of 56.89 after trying to come back from a knee injury that kept her from competing from May 3 until the Midwest Regional Championships on May 30-31. She will close out her collegiate career in the women's 4x400-meter relay races.