June 3, 2003

Lubbock, Texas - The wait is over for the Texas Tech track and field athletes who missed an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend as the NCAA announced the field headed to Sacramento, Calif., late Monday night.

Freshman Bobby Most will join Jared Thornhill next week in the pole vault after no-highting in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday. Most was the top athlete on the list of pole-vaulters who missed placing in the top five at their respective regional meet. He was not alone in sweating out the NCAA's announcement, as nine of the top 21 athletes in the event did not get an automatic bid. With Most's ticket to California, Tech is one of just four schools to send more than one vaulter to the championships. The other three schools are UCLA, BYU and Oklahoma.

Although Brionne Yosten was the only female to gain an automatic bid, she will not be the only female headed West next week as the women's 1,600-meter relay team of Rachelle Evans, Tori Polk, Karletha Cook and Licretia Sibley will also be making the trip via an at-large bid. The quartet put its self in a position to make it to the championships at the regional despite not placing in the top three. The team's time of 3:35.51 was not only its best mark of the year by more than a second-and-one-half, but it was the second fastest clocking in school history. Sibley also received an at-large bid to run in the open 400.

In somewhat of a surprise, Tracie Akerhielm also was selected to the championships in the 5,000. The sophomore distance runner was 52nd on the NCAA's descending order list, but due to other athletes choosing to by-pass the 5,000 in favor of the 10,000 or 3,000-meter steeplechase Akerhielm received her first ticket to the national meet.

All total, 15 athletes, in 12 events, will represent the Red Raiders. The meet is scheduled to begin at noon (CST) on Wed., June 11 with the women's discus throw. A complete list of event start times can be found at www.hornetsports.com.