May 30, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Three Samford student-athletes will compete in the 2008 NCAA Mideast Track and Field Regional Friday and Saturday, May 30-31. The two-day event is hosted by the University of Arkansas.

Senior Lauren Blankenship will run in the 5000 meters, the last event to take place on Friday night. Blankenship holds the school record for the 5000 meters (16:03.22), which she set in 2007. She qualified for the Mideast Regional in April at the Sea Ray Relays with a time of 16:46.15. Her school record in just over eight seconds faster than the Regional record of 16:12.42 set my Notre Dame's Molly Huddle in 2004.

Fellow senior Michael Smith will compete in the 400-meter hurdles. The preliminary races will be held on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. CT while the finals are at 6:50 p.m. CT on Saturday. Smith qualified for the event at the UGA Bulldog Unlimited on April 19 with a time of 52.39. Smith also holds the school record in this event with a time of 51.53, which he set in 2006. The Regional record for the 400-meter hurdles is 48.63, set my Michael Tinsley of Jackson State in 2006.

Freshman Hillary Neal will be competing in the 1500-meter race. She qualified for the Regional by winning the event at the 2008 OVC Outdoor Championships with a time of 4:32.23. The preliminaries for the event will be at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday and the finals will be Saturday at 5:20 p.m. CT. Neal broke fellow Bulldog Blankenship's record in the event at the Sea Ray Relays with a time of 4:28.87. She qualified for the 800-meters at the conference meet as well with a school-record time of 2:09.36, but will only compete in the 1500 meters this weekend.

A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com. Live stats can also be found through links on the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional page on www.hogwired.com.