May 11, 2007

HOUSTON, Texas - SMU's Gaelle Niare established a Conference USA Championship record for the women's heptathlon with a career-best 5,571 points Friday at the 2007 C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Rice Track Stadium. The senior concluded the seven-event heptathlon with four victories and seven top-five finishes.

Friday's heptathlon event featured the long jump, triple jump and 800-meter run. Niare finished first in the long jump with a mark of 5.92m, followed by third in the triple (33.27m/109-02") and fourth in the 800m (2:30.78).

Finishing second was the 2006 champion Ashley Reyer with a season-best 5,309 points. Reyer dominated the 800m (2:19.14) field, while placing second in the long (5.73m) and triple (38.46m/126-2") jumps. Picking up the final all-conference honor was Houston's Brittani Williams with 4,919 points for third place. Williams won the triple jump (42.47m/140-0"), placed second in the 800m (2:23.59) and was fifth in the long jump (5.03m).

Houston swept the top three finishes for the men's decathlon as Jarrett Flax won the event with 6,784 points, followed by Morgan Floyd (6,710) and Wesley Bray (6,592). The events included the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1500m run. The trio took the top three honors in the pole vault, while Flax and Floyd placed first and second in the discus and pole vault, respectively. Flax won three of his five races he competed in. Bray won the 110m hurdles (15.41) and took second in the 1500m run (5:05.00).

Memphis' Steffan Nerdal won the 2007 men's hammer throw title was with a mark of 60.59m (198-9"), dethroning two-time C-USA hammer throw champions Eric Frasure of East Carolina. Frasure finished third with a toss of 58.05m (190-5"), while teammate Terrance Myers placed second with a 60.12m (197-3") performance.

Field events are currently in progress, while the prelims of the running events are set to start at 5:30 p.m.

All-conference honors are awarded to the individuals finishing in the top-three, with first-team honors going to the winners and second-team merits are awarded to the second-place finishers.

For the latest C-USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships results visit http://flashresults.com/flashtexas/cusaoutdoor07/.

TEAM STANDINGS
Women
1) Rice, 16
1) UTEP, 16
3) East Carolina, 14
4) UCF, 8
4) Memphis, 8
6) UAB, 7
7) Tulane, 5
8) SMU, 3
9) Tulsa, 1

Men
1) Tulsa, 16
2) UTEP, 15
2) Memphis, 15
4) East Carolina, 14
5) Southern Miss, 8
5) Houston, 8
7) Rice, 2