LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following another weekend of record setting performances at the NCAA Mideast Regional, the University of Louisville track and field program earned five at-large bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Tuesday afternoon and will have a school record eight athletes competing in Sacramento, Calif., on June 6-9.

Overall, the Cards earned 10 championship bids, eight for the men and two for the women. The nationally ranked Cardinal men’s team, which finished a school record third at last weekend’s NCAA Mideast Regional in Columbia, Mo., will have six athletes competing at the 2007 national championships led by sophomores Tone Belt (long jump, high jump) and Andre Black (triple jump, long jump), who earned bids in two events each. Joining Belt and Black from the U of L’s men’s team will be senior Brandon Cook (discus), senior Wesley Korir (5,000m), senior Arthur Turland (discus) and sophomore Cory Thorne (3,000m steeplechase).

Leading the way for the Cardinal women’s team is senior Emily Turland and junior ZeNai Savage, who each earned at-large bids to the hammer throw. At last year’s NCAA Championships, the Cards had a previous school record seven athletes earn bids, including four men and three women. The men went to on finish 30^th overall, while the women were 37^th. In March, the Cardinal men finished 10^th at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the program’s best ever finish at an NCAA event.

“We’re excited to have this group of athletes advancing to the NCAA Championships and it should be a great competition for the men and women,” said U of L head coach Ron Mann. “Sacramento is a great venue for this event, and this continues to meet our goal of being a strong national representative.”

Five of the Cards’ 10 qualifiers were automatic bids from last week’s NCAA Mideast Regional, including both bids for Belt. A native of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., and the reigning 2007 NCAA indoor long jump champion, Belt won Friday night’s long jump title in Columbia and earned runner-up honors in Saturday’s high jump to advance in each event for the second straight year. Last season, Belt earned NCAA All-America honors in each event with fifth-place finishes at the national championships. Belt enters next week’s event as the No. 4 seed in the long jump with a season’s best mark of 25 feet, 9.25 inches and the No. 9 seed in the high jump with a cleared height of 7-03.00.

Joining Belt with two bids is Black, a native of Mobile, Ala., and the reigning 2007 NCAA indoor triple jump champion, who earned an automatic berth in the triple jump and is the No. 5 seed overall following his win at the NCAA Mideast Regional with a school record leap of 53-03.75. He also advanced in the long jump as an at-large selection and will enter that event as the No. 5 seed overall with a mark of 25-08.25.

Also earning automatic bids for the Cardinal men last weekend was the senior duo of Arthur Turland and Brandon Cook in the discus. Turland, a native of Kincardine, Ont., and the 2007 BIG EAST discus champion, won Friday’s discus title at the NCAA Mideast regional and enters the NCAA Championships ranked 23^rd overall with a mark of 185-01, while Cook, a native of Borden, Ind., was fourth in last week’s event and enters the national championships ranked 24^th overall with a throw of 182-09.

Another automatic qualifier for the Cardinal men was Korir, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, in the 5,000-meter run. After finishing sixth overall in the 5,000m run at the NCAA Mideast Regional, Korir earned the fifth and final automatic bid from the region after Wisconsin’s Tim Nelson, who finished second overall in the 5,000m in the Mideast, elected to compete in only the 10,000m run at the national championships. Korir, who was in position to earn an at-large bid in the 5,000m if needed, enters the event seeded 10^th overall with a school record time of 13 minutes, 50.44 seconds.

The final at-large bid to the NCAA Championships for the Cardinal men on Tuesday went to Thorne, a native of Portsmouth, N.H. The 2007 BIG EAST champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, Thorne finished eighth overall at the NCAA Mideast Regional, which produced more entries in the 3,000m steeplechase (eight) for the NCAA meet than any other region. Thorne enters the national championships ranked 22^nd overall with a school record time of 8:49.41.

For the U of L women, Turland, a native of New Albany, Ind., and the

2007 BIG EAST champion in the hammer, finished sixth overall at the NCAA Mideast Region and enters the national championships ranked 23^rd overall. Savage, a native of Indianapolis, Ind., and the 2007 BIG EAST runner-up in the hammer, finished seventh at the NCAA Mideast Regional and is ranked 25^th overall entering the NCAA Championships.

At last week’s NCAA Mideast Regional, both the men’s and women’s teams earned best-ever finishes at a regional event led by the No. 7 ranked Louisville men with a third-place finish overall. The Cardinal men scored 50 points to trail only No. 2 LSU with 70 points and No. 3 Auburn with 55 points. The U of L women scored a school record 12 points to finish 21^st overall, while No. 1 LSU won the women’s title.

A full recap of each day’s events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships will be available at www.UofLSports.com starting on Wednesday, June 6.

U of L at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships Schedule of events for the Cards at the NCAA Championships

Wednesday, June 6 (Day One)

11:00 AM            Women’s Hammer - Qualifying

(ZeNai Savage, Emily Turland)

4:00 PM            Men’s Long Jump - Qualifying

(Tone Belt, Andre Black)

7:00 PM            Men’s Discus - Qualifying

(Brandon Cook, Arthur Turland)

7:15 PM            Men’s High Jump - Qualifying

(Tone Belt)

8:00 PM            Men’s 3,000m SC - Semifinal

(Cory Thorne)

8:50 PM            Men’s 5,000m - Semifinal

(Wesley Korir)

Thursday, June 7 (Day Two)

6:30 PM            Men’s Long Jump - Final

(Tone Belt, Andre Black)

Friday, June 8 (Day Three)

11:00 AM            Women’s Hammer - Final

(ZeNai Savage, Emily Turland)

1:45 PM            Men’s Triple Jump - Qualifying

(Andre Black)

3:00 PM            Men’s High Jump - Final

(Tone Belt)

5:15 PM            Men’s Discus - Final

(Brandon Cook, Arthur Turland)

7:10 PM            Men’s 3,000m SC - Final

(Cory Thorne)

7:45 PM            Men’s 5,000m - Final

(Wesley Korir)

Saturday, June 9 (Day Four)

10:00 AM            Men’s Triple Jump - Final

(Andre Black)

Garett Wall

Assistant Sports Information Director

University of Louisville

Ph: (502) 852-3088

Fax: (502) 852-7401

www.UofLSports.com