Phifer, Alexander score for the Aggies

Results
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 30, 2008 – North Carolina A&T sophomore men’s sprinter Calesio Newman qualified for the 100 and 200 meter finals during the first day of the 2008 NCAA East Regional at Florida State Friday. Meanwhile, junior Tarrish Alexander culminated his improvement over the season by finishing sixth in the men’s long jump. Fellow junior Lonnie Phifer finished eighth in the men’s shot put.

Newman will compete in the 100 meters Saturday afternoon at 5:10. He will compete in the 200 meters at 6:05 p.m.

Newman ran a 10.359 to finish tenths of a second ahead of N.C. State’s A'Tolani Akinkuotu to finish with the eighth best time out of eight qualifiers. In the 200 meters, he ran a 20.96 to finish with the sixth best time. Newman will need a top five finish in either event to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Nationals.

“He is really starting to get his rhythm back after coming off of an injury,’’ said track and field assistant coach James Daniels, who works with the Aggie sprinters. “He had some tendonitis in his knee, which slowed him down a little before regionals. But he came down here healthy and looked really good today.”

Alexander’s sixth place finish comes after a season of improvements for Alexander. His emergence at the MEAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships earlier this month was one of the reasons the Aggies were able to finish second. He had a season-best 24-foot, 9 ¾ inches jump at the MEAC Championships to qualify for regionals. Alexander had a best jump of 24-feet, 3-inches on Friday to score three points.

Phifer, a three-time regional qualifier, scored one point for the Aggies as he tossed his best throw 57-feet, 10 ¾ inches.
                                                                                               Tarrish Alexander

On the women’s side, a bad exchange in the 4x100 meter relay hurt the Aggies. The team of Carmenta Mitchell, Jennifer Jackson, Loreal Smith and Alexandria Spruiel finished second in their heat with a time of 45.42 and 11^th overall to finish of qualifying for regionals.

No female Aggie qualified for the finals in a running event. Smith was disqualified in the 100 meters and finished 26^th in the 400 meter hurdles. Spruiel, who was a national qualifier last season, had a 17th place finish to fall short of qualifying for the finals on Saturday. Jackson missed qualifying in the 200 meters by finishing 12^th in the 200 meters.

“I think we wanted to do some big things today and the kids might have tried too hard,’’ said Daniels. “We made some mistakes we normally don’t make. I appreciate the young people giving their best effort. We’ve been fighting some injuries all throughout the outdoor season, but our athletes never made any excuses. They just competed.”