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Four Rice Men Qualify for NCAA Meet
5/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
May 30, 2006
Houston -
Four Rice men have earned spots in the 2006 NCAA national track and field championships, scheduled for June 7-10 at Sacramento, Calif. The NCAA announced automatic and at-large qualifiers Tuesday, and the Owls had two auto bids and two at-large bids.
Triple jumper Jason Powell, an all-America in 2004, was second at the Midwest regional last weekend and earned an auto bid. His 16.16 meters/53-0.25 from the Conference USA meet ranks him seventh entering the national meet. Florida State's Rafeeq Curry is the list-leader at 16.44/53-11.25.
Junior Pablo Solares was fifth in the 1500-meters at the regional meet to earn an auto bid, and he is ranked third going into nationals with a best of 3:44.43 (converted to 3:40.91 by the NCAA committee due to altitude). Solares won the Conference USA 1500 title and was third in the 800.
Omar Wright cleared 2.11/6-11 at the regional meet to place eighth in the high jump, and was awarded an at-large bid based on his 2.19/7-2.25 clearance at the C-USA meet. That mark tied the school record and bettered Wright's own Cayman Islands national record.
Decathlete Ryan Walsh, the C-USA champion, won an at-large bid with his 7,196-point score at the conference meet, and is ranked 22nd on the entry list.
College Sports Television (CSTV) will air live coverage from day three of the event on Friday, June 9 from 7-9 pm. CBS Sports will pick up live coverage on the final day, Saturday, June 10, from 2:30-5 pm.
Players Mentioned
