May 27, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Sophomore Michael Bingham and the men's 4x400 meter relay team qualified for the NCAA Championships after recording top-three performances at the NCAA East Regional. Bingham and the relay team will next travel to Sacramento, Calif. for the championships, June 6-10.

In the 400 meter dash, Bingham ran a time of 46.15 seconds and placed second overall. On Friday in the preliminaries, Bingham ran a personal-best and school record time of 46.13 seconds.

The 4x400 meter relay team of Bingham, Willie Idlette, Brent LaRue and Eric Seely shattered the school record they set earlier this season with a time of 3:05.48, earning a second place finish behind South Carolina. The relay team ran a time of 3:07.49 at the Sea Ray Relays in April. Prior to this season, the school record was more than 10 seconds higher than the mark set today.

In the 200 meter dash, Kevin Marion just missed qualifying for the championships after placing sixth with a time of 20.79 seconds. Senior Eric Seely placed ninth in the qualifying round with a time of 21.09 seconds.

Senior Brad Wharton qualified for the finals in the men's 1500 meter run after running a qualifying time of 3:47.21. Wharton placed seventh in the finals on Saturday with a time of 3:53.49.

The men's 4x100 meter relay team ran the second fastest qualifying time on Friday, 39.28 seconds. However on Saturday, the Deacons were disqualified after completing a handoff outside of the allowed zone.

Kerry Major placed 11th in the long jump with a distance of 7.27 meters. Michelle Sikes placed sixth in the 5000 meter run with a time of 16:07.44. Caitlin Chrisman also competed in the 5000 meter run finishing with a time of 16:42.04 and placing in 14th . Freshman Nicole Schappert placed 15th in the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:31.20.

Freshman Brent LaRue qualified provisionally in the decathlon with his 7,066 point performance at the ACC Championships.