May 23, 2002

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The word came officially from the NCAA on Thursday night that Southeast Missouri State freshman track athlete Heather Jenkins was chosen to compete in the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships May 29 through June 1 at Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the campus of Louisiana State University.

The Cape Girardeau native was one 21 female athletes chosen to compete in the discus championship. Jenkins qualified with a throw of 173-11 at Georgia Tech last weekend. The throw broke the school discus record that Jenkins had set at the OVC Championships earlier in the year.

Jenkins is one of only five freshman in the discus field for the Championships. Jenkins will compete at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night when the trials and finals will both be held.

Two other Southeast athletes, Jaret Willi in the pole vault and Jay Heddell in the shot put, provisionally qualified but did not make the final cut for the Championships field.

Results from the NCAA Championships can be accessed as they occur at NCAAChampionships.com and at LSUSports.net. A complete schedule of events can also be accessed at LSUSports.net.

NCAA Women's Discus NCAA Championship Field

Event  38   Women Discus Throw         ** Auto: 54.50 **
RANK ATHLETE                 YR SCHOOL                    SEED MARK  DATE
==== ======================= == ======================= =========== =====
   1 Melissa Bickett         SO Michigan                     56.83m  4-26
   2 Chaniqua Ross           JR UCLA                         56.31m  5-11
   3 Becky Breisch           FR Nebraska                     55.67m  5-18
   4 Krista Keir             JR Ohio State                   55.57m  4-13
   5 Lara Saye               SO UCLA                         54.94m  4-27
   6 Diane Slinden           SR Tennessee                    54.90m  5-11
   7 Jennifer Joyce          SR California                   54.33m  4-27
   8 Cynthia Ademiluyi       SR USC                          54.18m  4-21
   9 Mary Etter              JR Oregon                       54.08m  5-11
  10 Stephanie Brown         JR Cal Poly-SLO                 53.97m  4-27
  11 LaQuanda Cotten         JR Florida                      53.62m  5-12
  12 Deshaya Williams        JR Penn State                   53.54m  4-21
  13 Loree Smith             SO Colorado State               53.44m  3-23
  14 Molly Meyer             SO Stanford                     53.42m  5-10
  15 Sheni Russell           JR California                   53.22m  4-27
  16 Rachel Longfors         FR Florida                      53.09m  4-13
  17 Briona Reynolds         FR UCLA                         53.08m  4-6
  18 Andrea Hancock          SR Northern Arizona             53.00m  5-17
  19 Heather Jenkins         FR SE Missouri                  53.00m  5-18
  20 Julie Gunzel            SR Colorado State               52.90m  4-6
  21 Irache Quintanal        FR Southern Methodist           52.77m  5-18