Clemson Women’s Track And Field East Region Championship Qualifiers Announced

May 22, 2003

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s track and field team will send 10 student-athletes to the inaugural NCAA East Region Championships to be held May 30-31 on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. The qualified Tigers will compete in nine events, including the 4x100m and 4x400m relays as well as seven individual events. The top five athletes in each individual event and the top three relay teams will automatically advance to the NCAA championship meet to be held at California State University in Sacramento, CA, from June 11-14.

In the running events, Shakirah Rutherford will compete in the 400m dash and 400m hurdles. Rutherford ranks 33rd in the 400m with a time of 54.55 set at the ACC Championships, and is 23rd in the intermediate hurdles with her season-best time of 59.89 set at the Penn Relays. Silja Ulfarsdottir will also represent Clemson in the 400m hurdles, as she has a season-best time of 1:00.03 set at the ACC Championships, ranking her 25th in the East. Keshia Haughton will compete in the 100m hurdles, and ranks 30th with her season-best of 13.97 set at the Orange and Purple Classic. The Lady Tigers’ 4x100m relay team consists of Denise Cruse and Danielle Whaley and ranks 20th with a time of 45.61 set at the Orange and Purple Classic. The qualified 4x400m relay team is comprised of Cruse, Rutherford, Lauren Nicholson and Ulfarsdottir, and ranks 33rd with a time of 3:41.94 set at the ACC Championships.

Gisele Oliveira will compete in the long jump and triple jump. Oliveira ranks seventh in the long jump with a season-best mark of 20’11.75″, and is second in the region in the triple jump with her school-record mark of 43’11.75″ set at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Lauren Nicholson will also compete in the long jump, after recording her season-best mark of 19’4.75″ in the Orange and Purple heptathlon. Nicholson is also a national qualifier in the heptathlon.