Shapard Qualifies for NCAA Championships in 400m Hurdles

Saturday, May 30

Eugene, Ore.

TBA

University of Utah

NCAA West Regional

Shapard Qualifies for NCAA Championships in 400m Hurdles

5/30/2009 12:00 AM | Track & Field

May 30, 2009

Results

EUGENE, Ore. - Senior Chelsea Shapard qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles for the third consecutive season as the University of Utah track & field team competed Saturday in the NCAA West Regional at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

"Overall, we got to where we thought we'd be," Utah head coach Kyle Kepler said. "Ultimately, we might have two or three athletes in the national meet so we are happy with the end result."

Shapard earned her third consecutive NCAA Championships bid with a fourth-place finish in the final heat of the 400-meter hurdle event in a time of 58.37 seconds. Shapard's performance earned five points for the Utes in the team standings. The Park City, Utah native was stationed in second place overall after yesterday's preliminaries with a time of 58.54 seconds to win her respective heat.

"[Shapard] ran a super race," Kepler said. "She earned a spot on the all-west region team and will get to finish her career in Fayetteville by competing at nationals."

The 4x400-meter relay of Shapard, Chelsey Kaplar, Whitney Wellington and Ashley Patterson finished eighth with a time of 3:45.20 to earn an additional point for the Utes to push Utah into 21st place in the team competition.

Freshman Langley Iverson finished tied for 14th in the high jump after clearing a 5'7" height on her third attempt.

"I'm proud of how [Iverson] performed today," Kepler said. "This was the highest opening height that she had to clear this season. It's impressive for a freshman to compete like that so it was a great experience for her."

Aside from Shapard, hammer thrower Sarah Grimm earned an at-large bid to the national championships thanks to her season-best mark that ranked 15th in the nation. Josefin Berg is hoping to qualify for an at-large berth in the hammer throw as well and will find out if she qualifies for the meet on Tuesday. The NCAA Championships will be held June 10-13 at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark.

"I'm proud of this group," Kepler said. "They competed hard all season. Effort has never been a question with them. We look forward to having Chelsea [Shapard], Josefin Berg and hopefully Sarah [Grimm] representing us at the national meet."