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Bobcats Send Strong Contingent to Regional
May 23, 2007 SAN MARCOS - Highlighted by student-athletes who combined to win eight Southland Conference titles earlier this month, Texas State had a contingent of 13 competitors qualify for the NCAA Mid West Regional to be held Friday and Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. Texas State will have three student-athletes compete in multiple events at the regional which will be held at Drake Stadium. Senior Camilla Davis will be looking to return to the NCAA Championships for a second straight year after qualifying for the regionals in both the long jump and 100 meter dash. She earned All-Southland Conference honors in both the 100 and 200 meters as well as the long jump. The Palacios native placed second in the long jump at the conference meet with a jump of 6.09 meters (19-11.75) and was third in both the 100 and 200 meters. Her time of 11.71 in the 100 meters was ahead of the regional-qualifying standard. Texas State sends a pair of athletes who will be competing in multiple throwing events at the regional. Senior Abby Ruston will compete in the shot put and the discus, two events she captured Southland Conference titles in earlier this month. She helped the Bobcats dominate the discus with a winning and season-best throw of 50.96 meters (167-02). She was one of three Texas State athletes to qualify for the regional meet in the event. Ruston also won the shot put with a throw of 16.73 meters (54-10.75). Earlier this year, the San Antonio native was named the SLC's Indoor Track and Field Newcomer of the Year after setting a meet record in the shot. She went on to compete in the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship and placed fifth with a season-best mark of 16.61 meters (54-06). Sophomore Robert Melin qualified for the NCAA Mid West Regional in both the discus and hammer throw. He captured Southland Conference titles in both events earlier this month. He was Texas State's top male score at the SLC Championship. He won the hammer with a throw of 57.88 meters (189-11) and the following day captured the discus title with a throw of 54.51 meters (178-10). Texas State senior Liudmila Litvinova and junior Katya Kostetskaya will anchor the women's 4 x 400 meter relay team and will also compete in individual events at the championship. The 4 x 400 team, which also includes Liat Anav and Courtney Baker, won the Southland Conference Championship in a time of 3:41.60, the fifth best time in school history. Litvinova, the 2007 Student-Athlete of the Year for indoor track, followed up her 400 title at the indoor meet with a time of 53.74 to win the finals of the Southland Conference Outdoor Championship in the event. Kostetskaya broke the 13-year old Southland Conference meet record in the 800 meters on two straight days. She won the championship in a time of 2:08.10. A day earlier she broke the old mark of 2:09.62 set by Texas State athlete Inez Turner in 1994. Earlier this year in the indoor season Kostetskaya placed sixth in the 800 meters at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. Texas State freshman Valerie Hancock qualified for regionals with a winning height of 1.80 meters (5-10.75) in the Southland Conference high jump event. The mark was a season high as the Copperas Cove native had previously qualified for this week's regional with multiple 1.75 meter marks during the season. Junior Erroll Harris had been on the verge of qualifying for the regional in the 400 meters all season before finally hitting the mark during the prelims of the Southland Conference Outdoor Championship. The Converse Judson product clocked a time of 47.20 to go under the regional qualifying standard by six one-hundredths of a season. He went on to place fifth in the finals of the 400. A day after finishing competition in the decathlon, sophomore Dmitri Kabakov vaulted 5.05 meters (16-06.75) to place fourth at the Southland Conference Track and Field Championships and qualify for the regional. Kabakov will head to the regional for a second straight year. Gatis Spunde qualified for the NCAA Mid West Regional in the 400 meter hurdles early in the season. But the junior's best time came in the finals of the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships in which he clocked a time of 51.42 to place third. Two freshmen - Katie Hanie and Jiovanna Martinez - qualified for the regionals in the discus along with Ruston. Both Hanie and Martinez qualified for the regional meet their first outings of the season, the Bobcat Open in San Marcos. Hanie was second at the Southland Conference championship with a throw of 50.43 meters (165-05) while Martinez placed fourth in the event. Below is a list of times for events Texas State athletes will compete in: Friday, May 25
Running Events
Saturday, May 26
Running Events
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