Tulane's Jurlina and Mo Set Personal Records at NCAA Regionals

Tulane juniors Jelena Jurlina and Lissie Mo set personal records at the NCAA Mideast Regional Track and Field Championships at LSU's Bernie Moore Stadium on Friday evening.

Jurlina shattered her own school record in the discus, posting a distance of 181 feet, three inches. That mark beats Jurlina's previous best of 163 feet by over 18 feet. She advances to the NCAA National Championships which take place June 9-12 in Austin, Texas.

"Jelena was unbelievable," Tulane coach Heather Van Norman said. "Her determination through nicks and pains this year has been amazing; and this just put an exclamation point on her competitiveness. She loves to throw at LSU and she really performed at the top level tonight."

In addition, Mo rose to the occasion in the long jump. The junior broke 20 feet for the first time in her career with a distance of 20 feet, two and a quarter inches. Her previous best was 19 feet, nine inches. She is just the fifth woman in school history to break the 20-foot barrier. Mo also may advance to Nationals, depending on marks set at the other three regional sites.

Also in action on Friday were sophomore Marilyn Sauls and freshman Gloria Asumnu. Sauls notched a distance of 19 feet, five and a half inches in the long jump, also a personal record. Asumnu recorded a time of 11.72 seconds in the 100-meter dash. Neither marks were sufficient to advance to Nationals.

On Saturday, Jurlina will compete in the javelin while junior Helmi Leppanen will compete in the shot put. Last season, Jurlina placed fourth at the regionals and advanced to the National Championships, finishing 10th in the country. Leppanen will throw the shot put at 6 p.m. on Saturday. It is her first Regional Championship, but she did finish 15th nationally in the javelin as a freshman in 2002.


Tulane Finishers
Discus
Jelena Jurlina, 55.27m, 181-03 (4th place) - Advances to nationals

Long Jump
Lissie Mo, 6.15m (6th place)
Marilyn Sauls, 5.93m

100 Meters
Gloria Asumnu, 11.72