May 24, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -

The Wake Forest track and field teams head to Gainesville, Fla., this weekend for the NCAA East Regionals on Friday and Saturday on the campus of the University of Florida. Fifteen individuals and three relay teams regionally qualified for the Deacons, the most in school history. 

The meet begins on Friday at noon with the trials and final of the men's hammer and concludes Saturday evening at 8:50 p.m. with the finals of the women's 4x400-meter relay.  Live results through the duration of the meet can be found at www.gatorzone.com.

Entering the weekend, senior Michelle Sikes and junior Michael Bingham 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 is ranked third in the 5,000-meter run and fifth in the 10,000-meter run, while Bingham also comes in at fifth in the 400-meter dash.

Bingham will be competing as an individual in the 400-meter dash as well as a member of the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay teams.

Sikes has regional times in three events but will only be attempting to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. 

On the men's side, junior Kevin Marion has also individually qualified in three events (100m, 200m, long jump) as well as a member of the 4x100-meter relay team.

Other individual qualifiers on the men's side include Eric Seely (200m), Phillip Warsaw (400m hurdles) and Michael Hauck (javelin).

Melissa Council (400m), Nicole Schappert (1,500m), Allison Kieffer (1,500m), Caitlin Chrisman (5,000m, 10,000m), Caroline Vaughn (100m hurdles), Alexandra Gove (400m hurdles), Michelle Duffey (400m hurdles), Lindsay Neuberger (shot put) and Carly Mauch (javelin) have all qualified from the women's team.

The top five finishers per event at the East Regionals will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships on June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. After the automatic bids are established by the NCAA, the remaining field for the championships will be determined based upon the student-athlete's best mark of the season.