University of Houston junior pole-vaulter Rhian Clarke automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships when she finished fourth with a season-best vault of 13 feet, 5.25 inches.

Clarke's mark equaled the top collegiate mark in the pole vault behind Alicia Warlick's winning vault of 14 feet, 1.25 inches. Amy Linnen and Andria Dutoit of Arizona finished ahead of Clarke with 13 feet, 5.25 inches, but they had fewer misses at the preceding height of 12 feet, 11.50 inches.

In the men's 100-meter dash, sophomore Robert Foster advanced to Saturday's final when he won the second heat with a wind-aided time of 10.21 seconds. His time was the fifth-best qualifying time in the meet.

Kenneth Andam of BYU had the fastest time of 10.14 seconds, while Pierre Brown of Mississippi State finished the race in 10.17 seconds. Devon Davis of Iowa State and Lewis Turner of Prairie View tied for third in the preliminaries with 10.19 seconds. All of the marks in the preliminaries were wind-aided.