May 30, 2008

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. ---- No Samford student-athletes were able to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships in the first day of the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional hosted by the University of Arkansas. Three Bulldogs - Lauren Blankenship, Michael Smith and Hillary Neal - competed in the event.

Blankenship finished seventh in the 5000 meters in the last event of the day, running a time of 16:42.98. The top five runners automatically qualify for the Championships while runners who placed sixth through eighth are eligible for automatic bids. Therefore, Blankenship still has a possibility of making it to the NCAA Championships June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Michael Smith finished fourth in his heat and 20th overall in the 400-meter hurdle preliminaries with a time of 53.11, which would not qualify him for the finals. Hillary Neal ran the 1500 meters and finished eighth in her heat and 16th overall in the preliminaries with a time of 4:36.79.