Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Stanford Invitational
Powers and Loiselle Post NCAA Qualifying Marks at Stanford
4/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | MTF
April 1, 2006
STANFORD, Calif. - Central Michigan University men's track and field athletes Jeff Powers and Matt Loiselle went west to open the outdoor track season at the Stanford Invitational, and both will come home having already posted a time that advances them to the NCAA Mideast Regional. Powers and Loiselle each ran personal-best times in their events at the very competitive meet featuring many of the top distance runners from across the country.
"The Stanford meet has become a magnet for the best distance runners early in the outdoor season," CMU head coach Jim Knapp said. "I'm very happy for both Jeff and Matt that they were able to post a great time against the quality competition they faced this weekend. It's nice for them to start the year like that, and now they can focus on improving as the season goes along rather than worrying about trying to post a qualifying time later on."
Loiselle had a time of 8:48.15 in the 3000m steeplechase, which placed him sixth among the 62 runners who ran in one of the four steeplechase races. He finished fifth in his section, which featured all but one of the fastest six times of the meet. Loiselle's time was a personal best and qualified him for the NCAA Mideast Regional.
Powers also had a personal best in his event, the 5000m, covering the distance in 14:04.96. He also finished fifth in his section. Powers' mark was also a qualifying standard and will advance him to the Mideast Regional.
The outdoor track and field season features a regional round of qualifying before the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Athletes post qualifying times and marks that qualify them for the four regional competitions that are spread out geographically. Any qualifying mark advances an athlete to the regional, and only in one event, the 10,000m, is an automatic qualifying standard as found in indoor track and field. The NCAA regionals take place May 26-27 in Greensboro, N.C (East Regional at North Carolina A&T State University), Knoxville, Tenn. (Mideast Regional at the University of Tennessee), Austin, Texas (Midwest Regional at the University of Texas) and Provo, Utah (West Regional at Brigham Young University).
The rest of the men's track squad will open the season at a dual meet against Eastern Michigan on Saturday, April 8 at the Lyle Bennett Outdoor Track.
-###-
