Senior Manteo Mitchell receives the only bid for the Catamounts marking the fifth straight season WCU has had a participant in nationals.

 
Manteo Mitchell Qualifies for NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships for Third-Straight Season

Senior Manteo Mitchell begins his quest for All-American status in the 400-meter dash next week

June 2, 2009

 

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Cullowhee, N.C. - Senior Manteo Mitchell qualified for next week's NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championship in the men's 400-meter dash to be held at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The NCAA National Championship is scheduled for June 10-13 and will be hosted by the University of Arkansas. Overall event winners will be declared national champions, with the top eight finishers - plus the top eight Americans in the individual events only - garnering All-American status.

This marks the fifth-straight season that a Western Carolina student-athlete has been selected to participate in the prestigious event. Mitchell qualified for the third straight season, looking to end his senior campaign on a good note.

Last weekend, Mitchell kept his hopes alive of receiving an at-large bid to nationals by finishing inside the Top 12 in the men's 400-meter dash. The selection committee tabbed Mitchell, placing him 20th out of 26 competitors in the  event with his top time of 46.00 seconds.

Western Carolina is also the only Southern Conference team competing in the NCAA national championships. The Catamounts did miss out on having multiple student-athletes selected as junior Dominique Young and Felicia Paulding came within seconds of receiving bids themselves.

Young did all he could at the NCAA East Regional posting a career-best in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.40 seconds, which was also a new WCU record, falling into the last man out category. Young was also hoping for a chance in the men's 200-meter dash as his time of 20.86 seconds was again one of the final times not to be selected.

Paulding had two opportunities to reach an at-large bid to Nationals as her time in the women's 200-meter dash of 23.83 seconds was just short of the 23.77 final at-large bid time. Paulding also ran a new school-record as a part of the women's 4x400-meter dash as the Catamounts were the last team not to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championships.

Manteo Mitchell begins his final competition as a Catamount on June 10th when he will compete in the first round of the men's 400-meter dash in Fayetteville, Arkansas.