May 14, 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky. ----- After a 51-minute rain delay, the UAB women's track team completed the second day of competition at the Conference USA Championships held here Friday. On the afternoon, nine athletes from UAB qualified for the finals in their respective events.

Judy Shepherd earned the Blazers four points with a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon with 4,848 points, while Adrienne Duke placed ninth with a personal-best of 4,465 points.

Erin Harris finished ninth in the long jump - which was the one of only three events scored on the afternoon - with a leap of 18-3.

Genoah Collins led the list of Blazers in Friday's preliminary events. Collins time of 2:14.11 in the 800m not only won her heat, but the time remained the top qualifying time in the event.

Two UAB runners qualified for Saturday's final in the 100m hurdles. Theresa Smith qualified fourth overall with a personal-best time of 13.69. Shepherd also qualified with a time of 14.42, which placed her in the ninth - and final - qualifying spot.

In the 100m preliminaries, it was Oriana Carter leading the way heading into Saturday's event finale. Carter placed sixth overall with a time of 11.90, while Stephanie McCauley also qualified with a time of 11.93. McCauley also qualified for Saturday's 200m finals with a time of 24.80 - just .04 seconds of her career-best time of 24.76.

In the 400m hurdles, Amanda Hart led UAB with a time of 1:03.62, while Adrienne Duke also qualified in the same event with a time of 1:04.01.

Emry McKay was the lone UAB athlete to qualify for Saturday's 1,500m finals, placing ninth overall with a time of 4:42.14. Elizabeth Ambrus just missed qualifying in the same event by one spot, with a time of 4:47.99 to place 13th overall. The top 12 runners in the event qualify for Saturday's final.

Saturday's events begin at 10 a.m. and can be followed on www.alltraxtiming.com.