March 8, 2008

SEATTLE - Senior Amy Egan won the 800 meter run at the Last Chance Indoor Track and Field Meet Saturday, hosted by the University of Washington at UW's Dempsey Indoor Track.

Egan, a native of Latrobe, Pa. (Greater Latrobe HS), broke the tape with a time of 2:10.43, short of the NCAA automatic selection time of 2:05. She finished nearly three seconds ahead of unattached runner Jennifer Thomas' second-place time of 2:13.28

On the very same track back on Feb. 16, Egan ran a school record and NCAA provisional time of 2:08.27.

"She's a great competitor. She's done a lot of great things throughout her terrific career at Utah State," USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. "It's great that she got the opportunity to race today, she's been sick this week so her time wasn't what it could've been. I'm sorry she didn't get an automatic time, now we'll just have to wait and see if she gets an at-large selection."

The NCAA Indoor Championships selections will be announced late Monday night.

Junior John Strang is also a provisional qualifier as he scored a USU and WAC record 5,506 points to win the men's heptathlon at the WAC Indoor Championships Feb. 28-March 1. Strang must also wait to find out if that is enough to be selected to the NCAA National Championships.

Last year the Aggies sent just one athlete, Jennifer Twitchell, to the NCAA Championships. She finished fifth in the mile with a time of 4:47.09 and is only one of seven USU female track & field athletes to receive indoor All-American honors.

Athletes who qualify will compete in the NCAA Championships Friday and Saturday, March 14-15 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.

Utah State opens its outdoor season March 21-21 at the University of Arizona Willie Williams Invitational at Tucson, Ariz.