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Weekend Serves as Last Chance for NCAA Qualifiers

Deacs will disperse throughout the nation for last weekend before NCAA Championships

March 1, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -

The Wake Forest track and field teams will travel to three meets throughout the country this weekend in hopes of earning a berth to the NCAA Indoor Championships.  The Alex Wilson Invitational (Notre Dame), the Arkansas Last Chance meet and the Last Chance Invitational (Virginia Tech) will serve as the final opportunities for Deacons to obtain NCAA provisionally and automatically qualifying times.

Senior Michelle Sikes is the only Deacon to have automatically qualified for the national championships.  Her time of 15:57.24 in the 5,000-meter run at the ACC Championships last weekend not only won her the event, but it was also the fourth-fastest time in the nation this season.  The Lakewood, Ohio, native also has some of the nation's top times in the mile (4:44.23, 19th) and the 3,000m (9:15.33, 10th).  Both are NCAA provisional marks.

With his provisional time in the mile, senior Brad Wharton joined teammates Michael Bingham and Brent LaRue as the only Deacons on the men's side with NCAA qualifying scores.  Wharton's time of 4:03.61 at the ACC Championships was one of only three provisional times in that event in the conference this season.  The mark is also good for the 32nd best time in the nation.

Bingham's time of 46.69 in the 400-meter dash at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational is the 14th best in the nation this season.  The Burlington, N.C., native also possesses one of the conference's best 200-meter dash times (21.29).

LaRue, also a local product out of Kernersville, is coming off a record-setting performance this past weekend at the ACC Championships.  His score of 5,614 points in the heptathlon was not only a personal best, but it broke the conference championship record in the event.  The point total currently sits him at 10th in the national performance list.

Sikes and LaRue are ranked in the "Dandy Dozen" in their respective events, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event as determined by Trackwire.com.  Sikes comes in at 11th in the 3,000m and third in the 5,000m while LaRue is 10th in the heptathlon.

For those that qualify, the 2007 NCAA Championships will be March 9-10 in Fayetteville, Ark.

- WakeForestSports.com -