May 29, 2004

BATON ROUGE, La. ----- The UAB 400-meter relay team clocked a time of 45.83 in the finals here Saturday to finish in ninth place at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships.

The Blazers' foursome of Theresa Smith, Stephanie McCauley, Crystal Hunter and Oriana Carter were off their qualifying time of 45.45 run Friday when the Blazers qualified as the eighth fastest team.

Arkansas won the event Saturday, running a time of 44.91, followed by Southern Miss (45.06), Louisiana Tech (45.18), Ole Miss (45.19) and Alabama (45.36). Eastern Michigan (45.42), Southwest Missouri State (45.71) and Michigan (45.76) also finished in front of the UAB relay.

The only competitor UAB had in individual competition this weekend was Smith who ran a 13.82 to finish fifth in her 100-meter hurdles heat Friday. That time did not advance Smith to Saturday's final.