March 6, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Amy Egan will be representing the Utah State track and field team in the final opportunity to qualify for the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships when she races in the Last Chance Meet on Saturday, March 8 at Seattle, Wash.

The University of Washington will be the host for the Last Chance Meet at UW's Dempsey Indoor Track.

Egan, a senior from Latrobe, Pa. (Greater Latrobe HS), will be running in the 800 meters, which starts at 2:50 p.m. (MT). She has an NCAA provisional time of 2:08.27, which is a USU school record time that Egan set on the very same track she'll be running on Saturday.

"This is her last year of eligibility and we want to give her every opportunity to qualify," USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. "Throughout her career, she has proven to be a tough racer so we hope she can battle for a spot to nationals."

At last weekend's Western Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, Egan was third with a 2:14.52.

USU has six individual athletes with provisional marks who could qualify for the NCAA championships, as well as the men's relay team, who recorded a school-record time of 3:13.33 at the WAC Indoor Championships last Saturday. Junior Vanessa Hawkins's provisional mark came in the mile with a time of 4:32.15. Freshman Silas Pimentel is a provisional qualifier with his time of 21.48 in the 200m and junior Nick Karren recorded his mark in the 400m with a time of 47.55. 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 last weekend.

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.

The Last Chance Meet begins at 11 a.m. Saturday with the women's shot put, long jump and 60m preliminary races and will conclude at 3:35 p.m. with the men's 4x400 relay race.

The NCAA Indoor Championships selections will be announced Tuesday, March 11.

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