College Sports
Email
Print
Wake Forest's Bingham going for 400 title at East Regional
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 29, 2009
To get NCAA Championship glory, athletes will have to perform at this weekend's NCAA East Regional Track and Field meet at N.C. A&T.
More than 850 athletes from 110 schools will converge over the next two days at the Irwin Belk Track.
There are four regional sites throughout the country. It's the final chance for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. The top five in each event and the top three in each relay will qualify for the Championship.
Leading Wake Forest in the sprints is senior Michael Bingham, who will run in the 400 meters. He has already won the 400-meter indoor championship and has the fastest qualifying time in the region at 45.32. Jon Reid will also compete in the 400 for the Deacons.
Bingham competed for Great Britain in the 4x400-meter relay at the Olympics in Beijing last summer.
Senior Phillip Warsaw of the Deacons had an early-season time of 52.49 in the 400-meter hurdles.
Thomas Sensing, a junior for the Deacons, will be in three throwing events. He finished second in the ACC Championships in the javelin and also advanced to the regionals in the discus and the shot put.
Junior Brent LaRue, who was an All-America in the heptathlon in the indoor season, was supposed to run in the regional but he is out with an injury. Junior Tyler Dodds will fill in for LaRue and be joined by Bingham, Reid and Allen Lunkenheimer in the 4x400 relay.
Coach Annie Bennett of the Deacons said: "We were placed in some good heats but more importantly, I think we have athletes with good character. They always seem to show up when it counts. We had a couple of good weeks of practice and they are ready to go."
Junior Caroline Vaughn of the Deacons will compete in both women's hurdle events. She ran a 13.39 school-record in the 100-meter hurdles two weeks ago. She'll also be running in the 400 meter hurdles with a qualifying time of 58.46.
Vaughn will also run with Melissa Council, Nicole Castronuova and Alex Grove in the 4x400 meter relay.
Junior Kim Vos qualified in the 800 meters and sisters Anna and Dina Nosenko have also qualified. Anna has the fastest time in the region in the 5,000 meters at 16:09.05. Dina will run in the 1,500-meters.
N.C. A&T, which is the host of the regional, has 16 athletes in the regional and will have the luxury of competing on its home track.
Also seeded in various events is Justin Prevette of UNC Wilmington, who is second in the men's long jump. He's a West Davidson graduate.
Pat Springs of UNC Charlotte, who is a Mount Tabor graduate, is eighth in the women's long jump.
Addie Bracy of North Carolina, who went to Northwest Guilford, is 10th in the women's steeplechase. Mattie Bethea of N.C. State, who is a Mount Tabor graduate, is 10th in the women's high jump.
Today's schedule: Women's javelin, men's hammer (11 a.m.); Long jumps (noon); women's shot, men's pole vault (3 p.m.); women's high jump, men's discus (5 p.m.); track prelims in 4x100, 1,500, hurdles, 400, 100, 800, 200 (4 p.m.-8:55); 5,000-m finals (9:10 women, 9:30 men)
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
