May 29, 2003

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On Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, the Clemson men's track and field team will compete at the inaugural NCAA East Region Championships on the campus of George Mason University. This is the first year of the regional qualifying system for Division I Track & Field. The nation is divided into four regions, the East, the Mideast, the Midwest and the West. The East Region, in which the Tigers compete, is comprised of 110 institutions that sponsor men's track, and is the largest of the four regions. The top five finishers in each individual event as well as the top three teams in the relay events from each region will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held June 11-14 at California State University in Sacramento. Qualifiers in the 10,000m and the decathlon advance directly to the NCAA Championships.

Twenty student-athletes will represent Clemson in 14 events at this weekend's East Region Championships. The qualified Tigers will compete in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays as well as 12 individual events.

In the running events, Airese Currie will compete in the 100m and 200m. Currie ranks ninth in the region in the 100m with a time of 10.40 set at the Orange & Purple Classic. He is listed seventh in the 200m with a time of 20.90 also recorded at the Orange & Purple meet. Larry Griffin will also compete in the 100m, as he is ranked 16th entering the meet with a time of 10.44 set at the Orange & Purple Classic. Tye Hill is the third Tiger slated to compete in the 100m. He posted a season-best time of 10.48 at the Georgia Tech Invitational to rank 21st entering the region championships. Otto Spain will compete in the 400m. Spain ranks fourth with his career-best time of 45.57 set at the Orange & Purple Classic. Itay Magidi enters the East Region Championship ranked fifth in the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 8:52.30 set at the ACC Championships. Jason Meany will represent Clemson in the 5000m run, as he is ranked 23rd with a time of 14:17.81 set at the ACC Championships.

Roy Cheney is a qualifier in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles. Cheney ranks 19th with a time of 14.15 set at the ACC Championships in the 110m hurdles, and owns a season-best time of 52.17 in the 400m hurdles to rank 18th in that event. Michael Bolling, Rashad Gardner and Scott Kautz will also compete in the 400m hurdles. Bolling ranks 13th with a time of 51.93 set at the ACC Championships, while Kautz's time of 52.04 set at the Georgia Tech Invitational puts him 16th on the region list. Gardner owns a season-best time of 52.33 set at the Clemson Invitational to rank 25th entering the region meet. The Tigers' 4x100m relay team of Griffin, Spain, Currie and Hill as well as the 4x400m relay team of Bolling, Cheney, Warren Eure and Spain will also compete. The 400m relay team has a season-best time of 40.05 to tie for fifth entering the region meet, and the 1600m relay team ranks tied for seventh with a season-best time of 3:07.23. Both season-best times were set at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Jacey Harper, who is recovering from an injury sustained early in the season, may also compete on the Tiger relay teams. Rashad Gardner and Ronald Richards may also compete as alternates on the relay teams.

Terrance McDaniel is a triple qualifier, but will only compete in the high jump and long jump. McDaniel ranks tied for fifth in the high jump with a season-best mark of 7'1.25". In the long jump, McDaniel is tied for eighth with a leap of 24'7.75". Kai Maull will compete in the long jump. Maull has a season-best mark of 24'7.75" in the long jump to tie for eighth in the region. George Kitchens is the East Region leader in the long jump with his season-best and school-record mark of 25'10.75". Three Tigers have qualified in the pole vault, including Ryan Lewis, Adam Klotzbach and Ryan Hunter. Lewis is tied for 11th in the region with a clearance of 16'6.75" at the Georgia Tech Invitational, while