DI Baseball Committee releases field of 64 teams for 2015 tournament

NDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- The field of 64 teams competing for the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship was announced Monday by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.

The national top eight seeds are UCLA (42-14), LSU (48-10), Louisville (43-16), Florida (44-16), Miami (Florida) (44-14), Illinois (47-8-1), TCU (43-11) and Missouri State (45-10). The top eight seed for Missouri State marks a first for a Missouri Valley Conference institution.

Interactive Bracket    Printable

The ACC and SEC lead all conferences in the number of teams in the championship field with seven. The Pac-12 has six institutions, while the Big 10 had a league-record five selected.

Making the tournament for the first time includes Radford of the Big South Conference, Florida A&M of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Houston Baptist of the Southland Conference and Cal State Bakersfield of the Western Athletic Conference. Overall, 27 of the 64 teams were in the field last year.

Miami (Florida) is in the field for the 43rd consecutive year, extending its own record. Florida State is making its 38th consecutive appearance, second all-time. Other long consecutive streaks: Cal State Fullerton (24), Rice (21) and Arkansas (13).

Each of the 16 regionals features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. The regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 29, to Monday, June 1 (if necessary). Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced at approximately 11 p.m. ET June 1.

The 69th Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 13, at the TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.

2015 AUTOMATIC QUALIFIERS
CONFERENCE	TEAM	RECORD	YRS*	W	L	PREV. APP.
American East	Stony Brook	34-14-1	5	7	10	2012
American Athletic	East Carolina	40-20	27	31	53	2012
Atlantic Coast	Florida State	41-19	53	178	117	2014
Atlantic Sun	Lipscomb	39-18	2	1	2	2008
Atlantic 10	VCU	37-22	11	11	20	2010
Big East	St. John's (N.Y.)	39-14	35	63	62	2012
Big South	Radford	43-14	1	0	0	First
Big Ten	Michigan	37-23	22	59	43	2008
Big 12	Texas	30-25	57	233	114	2014
Big West	Cal St. Fullerton	34-22	37	146	78	2014
Colonial	UNCW	39-16	7	9	12	2013
Conference USA	FIU	29-29	11	8	21	2011
Horizon	Wright St.	41-15	5	1	8	2011
Ivy	Columbia	31-15	5	1	8	2014
Metro Atlantic	Canisius	34-28	2	0	2	2013
Mid-American	Ohio	36-19	11	14	20	1997
Mid-Eastern	Florida A&M	23-23	1	0	0	First
Missouri Valley	Missouri St.	45-10	9	14	17	2012
Mountain West	San Diego St.	40-21	12	10	22	2014
Northeast	Sacred Heart	23-30-1	4	0	6	2012
Ohio Valley	Morehead St.	38-20	3	2	4	1983
Pacific-12	UCLA	42-14	20	60	30	2013
Patriot	Lehigh	25-29	2	0	2	2006
Southeastern	Florida	44-16	31	85	64	2014
Southern	Mercer	35-21	3	1	4	2013
Southland	Houston Baptist	28-25	1	0	0	First
Southwestern	Texas Southern	31-17	3	1	4	2008
Summit	Oral Roberts	41-14	25	34	48	2012
Sun Belt	La.-Lafayette	39-21	15	27	30	2014
West Coast	Pepperdine	30-27	28	58	54	2014
Western Athletic	Cal St. Bakersfield	36-22-1	1	0	0	First
*Includes 2015

COURTESY NCAA.COM

FAMU Rattlers pumped for Round 2 against Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- Florida A&M's baseball team knew for more than a week it was going to play in the NCAA tournament.

The only questions were where the team would play and which three teams would the Rattlers would battle against in Florida A&M's first-ever appearance in an NCAA Regional.

Monday, Jamey Shouppe's team got its answers.

 
The Rattlers (23-23) will travel the Gainesville Regional for the double-elimination round of the NCAA tournament. The MEAC champions will be joined by Florida Atlantic (40-17), South Florida (33-24-1) and Florida (44-16), which was named the No. 4 national seed and will open against FAMU.

"We're just excited to be playing baseball this time of year," Shouppe said.

CONTINUE READING

Florida A&M Faces Florida to Open Gainesville Regional

Courtesy: Florida A&M University Sports Information

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  -- Florida A&M (23-23, 15-9 MEAC) makes its’ first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as it travels to Gainesville to face Florida (44-16, 19-11 SEC) at McKethan Stadium on Friday, May 29. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET and will be televised live on the SEC Network. FAMU will be the No. 4 seed in the Gainesville Regional, while UF is the No. 1 seed after earning the No. 4 overall national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Rattlers have won six straight and are 9-1 in their last 10 games heading into the NCAA Tournament. FAMU also won 14-of-18 against the MEAC down the stretch on the way to its’ first MEAC Championship since 1994.

The first game of the Gainesville Regional will see Florida Atlantic (40-17) and South Florida (33-24-1) square-off beginning at 1:00 PM ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

In 2015, Florida A&M faced three schools that earned berths in the 2015 NCAA Tournament field of 64. The Rattlers played two No. 3 seeds – Auburn (35-24) and South Florida (33-24-1) and split two games with No. 4 seed – Mercer (35-21).

The Rattlers secured an automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament by defeating Bethune-Cookman 8-2 in the Championship Game of the MEAC Tournament on May 16. FAMU and B-CU entered the tournament as the top two teams from the MEAC Southern Division. The MEAC Championship was the first for FAMU since 1994 and seventh in program history. Florida A&M went 3-0 in the tournament with wins over Savannah State (7-4), Delaware State (11-2) and Bethune-Cookman.

Florida A&M led the MEAC with a .964 fielding percentage, walks (202), second with a 4.38 team ERA and third in home runs (20). The Rattler pitching staff was also tied for the MEAC lead with 10 saves this season.

McKethan Stadium is hosting an NCAA Regional for the 13th time and for the fifth time in the last six years. Florida will be is making its’ 31st overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament after winning the SEC Tournament Championship over Vanderbilt by a score of 7-3 on Sunday night. The Gators earned a top eight national for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

FAMU trails Florida 1-18 in the all-time, but that first win came in the last meeting with the Gators by a score of 4-3 over then-No. 6 ranked Florida in Gainesville. Catcher Jeremy Barlow led the Rattler offense going 3-for-4 including the go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning, while reliever Brandon Fleming picked up the win after allowing just one run over three innings of work with two strikeouts. Kendal Weeks earned his first save of the season with a strong relief performance as he allowed just one run over the final 2 1/3 innings with two strikeouts.

The Gainesville Regional is paired up with the Tallahassee Regional as the winners of each regional site will meet for a Super Regional in a best-of-three series beginning on either Friday, June 5 or Saturday, June 6. The four schools competing in the Tallahassee Regional are Florida State (41-19), College of Charleston (43-13), Auburn (35-24) and Mercer (35-21).

Gainesville Regional Ticket Information

Tickets for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Gainesville Regional will go on sale to the public at 8:30 AM ET on Wednesday, May 27 at www.gatorzone/tickets.com. Phone orders will also be available by calling one of the Ticket Office Specialists at 352-375-4683 (option 2) or toll free 800-344-2867 (option 2) Wednesday through Friday, 8:30 AM ET to 5:00 PM ET. You can also visit the Gator Ticket Office, which is located at Gate 1 of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Wednesday through Friday from 8:30 AM ET to 5:00 PM ET.

Single game tickets will be sold beginning on Thursday, May 28, at 8:30 AM ET. Regional tournament passes begin at $55 for Reserved Box seats, $50 for Reserved Chairback and $30 for Reserved Bleacher. Individual game tickets are $10 for Reserved Box, $9 for Reserved Chairback, $8 Reserved Bleacher and $6 for General Admission.

The complete schedule for the Gainesville Regional is listed below:

Friday, May 29, 2015

Game 1: South Florida vs. Florida Atlantic – 1:00 PM (ESPN3)

Game 2: Florida A&M vs. Florida – 7:00 PM (SEC Network)

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 1:00 PM (SEC Network/ESPN3)

Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 7:00 PM (SEC Network/ESPN3)

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 – 12:00 PM (SEC Network/ESPN3)

Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 – 4:00 PM (SEC Network/ESPN3)

Monday, June 1, 2015

Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) – 7:00 PM (SEC Network/ESPN3)

As always, fans can follow FAMU Baseball via Live Stats on FAMUAthletics.com and on Twitter at @FAMUAthletics.

COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Texas Southern Tigers will travel to College Station for NCAA Tournament

HOUSTON, Texas -- The Texas Southern University Tigers baseball team learned their next opponent on Monday. The Tigers will travel to College Station to take on Regional host Texas A&M in the preliminary round of the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Matchup Preview
This is the second time Texas Southern (31-17) has faced Texas A&M in the postseason. The two teams met in 2004 and Texas A&M leads the postseason series 1-0. TSU comes into the matchup having won six of their last seven games.

Tournament MVP Zach Welz has been a key to the Tigers success this postseason. He led all batters in the SWAC tournament with nine hits and 14 total bases. His .429 batting average was the best of all hitters with over 15 at bats.

TSU's All-Tournament pitchers Ryan Rios, Frank Cruz IV, and Felix Gomez have all earned a significant number of starts this season, while also seeing time on the mound in relief.

Texas A&M (45-11) enters the tournament after falling to #9 Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament semifinals.

They boast a .312 team batting average with a .307 team ERA. Their top hitter coming into the tournament is Mitchell Nau. He has started every game for the Aggies and leads with a team-high .376 batting average including 73 hits, 14 doubles, and four home runs. Grayson Long has started all 15 of his appearances on the mound and leads with a team-best 2.62 ERA.

Tigers in the NCAA Tournament
This is the Tigers first trip to the dance since 2008, and third time in program history. They advanced to the 2004 NCAA Tournament after winning their first SWAC title. Playing out of the Baton Rouge Regional, the Tigers faced Rice University and upset the Owls 4-3. They went on to lose to eventual Super Regional finalist Texas A&M for their first loss. Rice later eliminated Texas Southern from the tournament in the rematch between the two teams.

Texas Southern made it back to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and faced Regional host LSU. They fell to LSU and then dropped game two to New Orleans.

The Tigers hold a 1-4 all-time tournament record and are playing in their first regional hosted in the state of Texas.

NCAA College Station Regional Ticket Information
Any available Reserved All-Session tickets will go on sale Monday, May 25 at 12:00 pm online and by phone. Remaining reserved inventory will be extremely limited.

Orders for Lawn/Standing Room Only (SRO) All-Session Regional tickets are being accepted at this time on the 12th Man Foundation Online Ticket Center. Lawn/SRO All-Session tickets are $40 Adult and $20 Youth/Student (plus a $4 per ticket fee). The All-Session ticket includes all possible sessions.

Individual game tickets for the RegioEnal will go on sale Friday, May 29. Sales times and specific information will be released once the game times are announced. Game times will be dictated by television and released at the earliest possible moment.E

COURTESY TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

XU's Montrel, Abbes are repeat All-Louisiana first-team selections

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Kyle Montrel and Nour Abbes are repeat first-team selections on the 2014-15 All-Louisiana tennis teams announced late Saturday.

Montrel is the first Gold Rush player to make the All-Louisiana first team three times.

A Louisiana Sports Writers Association panel of sports information directors selected the teams.

Montrel, a junior from Atlanta and a graduate of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, was 14-6 in singles and 15-6 in doubles this year. He won the ITA/NAIA South Region Arthur Ashe Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship and was a two-time Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week. He was No. 9 in the most recent ITA/NAIA singles rankings, No. 13 in doubles and had five singles victories against top-25 opponents.

Abbes, a sophomore from Tunis, Tunisia, and a graduate of Lycée Sportif d'El Menzah, was 29-4 in singles and 21-9 in doubles. She is No. 1 in the ITA/NAIA singles rankings — never lower than fourth in two seasons — and No. 20 in doubles. She was the NAIA singles champion at the ITA Small College Championships and the "Super Bowl" runner-up in October. She was the singles champion at the HBCU National Championships and a four-time GCAC Player of the Week.

Abbes was 7-0 in singles vs. NCAA Division I opponents, including Tulane, Southern Miss and New Orleans.

Xavier's Manav Chakma was runner-up in voting for men's Newcomer of the Year, Alan Green was third for men's Coach of the Year, and Caroline Vernet tied for fourth for women's Freshman of the Year.

Xavier's men were 13-8 in 2015 and reached the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championship for a school-record fourth consecutive year. Xavier's women were 17-10 and reached the NAIA's national semifinals for a school-record third consecutive year.

(L) Nour Abbes (R)  Kyle Montrel

2014-15 All-Louisiana Tennis

WOMEN
FIRST TEAM
Stephanie Barnett, sophomore, Nicholls State
Joana Vale Costa, sophomore, LSU
Natalya Krutova, junior, Northwestern State
Renee Villarreal, junior, Southeastern Louisiana
Nour Abbes, sophomore, Xavier
Skylar Kuykendall, junior, LSU

SECOND TEAM
Julia Kral, sophomore, McNeese State
Klaudia Gawlik, junior, McNeese State
Petra Horakova, junior, Louisiana-Monroe
Tatiana Larina, senior, Northwestern State
Alexandra Starkova, junior, Louisiana Tech
Abby Owens, sophomore, LSU

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Stephanie Barnett, Nicholls State
Voting: Barnett 5, Vale Costa 4, Krutova 1, Hafsa Laraibi (New Orleans) 1

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Skylar Kuykendall, LSU (only nominee)

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Sarah Jurakova, McNeese State
Voting: Jurakova 4, Vanessa Nommensen (Tulane) 2, Kelly Drew (Louisiana-Lafayette) 2, Jana Duhanova (Louisiana-Monroe) 1, Naz Karragoz (Tulane) 1, Caroline Vernet (Xavier) 1

COACH OF THE YEAR: Meenakshi Sundaram, Nicholls State
Voting: Sundaram 7, Julia Sell (LSU) 2, Terri Sisk (Tulane) 1, Melinda Descant (LSU-Alexandria) 1

MEN
FIRST TEAM
Dominik Koepfer, junior, Tulane
Jordan Daigle, sophomore, LSU
Chris Simpson, senior, LSU
Kyle Montrel, junior, Xavier
Boris Arias, junior, LSU
Constantin Schmitz, freshman, Tulane

SECOND TEAM
Justin Butsch, sophomore, LSU
Kieran Cronin, sophomore, Nicholls State
Bernard Wezeman, sophomore, Nicholls State
Sebastian Rey, sophomore, Tulane
Blake Gregor, senior, New Orleans
Damian Farinola, senior, Louisiana-Lafayette

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Dominik Koepfer, Tulane
Voting: Koepfer 5, Daigle 1

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Jordan Daigle, LSU
Voting: Daigle 5, Manav Chakma (Xavier) 1

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Constantin Schmitz, Tulane
Voting: Schmitz 5, Simon Fruend (LSU) 1

COACH OF THE YEAR: Mark Booras, Tulane
Voting: Booras 3, Jeff Brown (LSU) 2, Alan Green (Xavier) 1


Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
https://twitter.com/xulagold
https://www.facebook.com/

DII National Champions: Saint Augustine's coach Williams matches own record with 14th title

COACH GEORGE WILLIAMS
SAINT AUGUSTINE'S UNIVERSITY

ALLENDALE, Michigan -- George Williams has won so many national titles that he's found it difficult to count all the way to 14 ... twice. But the Saint Augustine’s coach likes every team for different reasons.

“It always means something different because I have different kids all the time,” said Williams, who is in his 39th year with the Falcons and has won 37 titles combined between men and women, including 14 men's indoor and 14 men's outdoor titles.

“This is for them. On this team here, I had three or four kids who just graduated a few days ago. I graduate about 95 percent of my kids.”

Saint Augustine’s men won the national title on Saturday during the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.

The Falcons won with 53 points, narrowly edging out Findlay, which finished second with 50. Ashland was third with 43, followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (41) and Adams State (40).

“It means a lot,” senior JaQuan Demiel said. “All that we went through … all the hard work. It comes together in the end. This is what counts, right here.”

The Falcons won two events. Omar Johnson won the 400 meters with a time of 45.78 and David Shaw won the triple jump with a leap of 51-11 feet (15.82m).

It wasn’t an easy road for Demiel and Saint Augustine’s.

“This is the first time I’ve ever won without a 4x4 meter relay team,” Williams said. “It’s always been my key to a win. I usually win by one point or two points and my 4x4 team is usually why.”

The reason why is the Falcons 1,600 meter relay team was disqualified during preliminaries on Friday.

“This is the first championship I had to make a lot of decisions,” Williams said. “I had to take my 400 meter guy off the lead-off leg [Omar Johnson] and put in my long jumper [Demiel].”

Demiel said he’s glad he bounced back from a rough meet.

“When our 4x4 dropped the baton [it was hard],” Demiel said. “We don’t really know what happened. The third leg switch hands when he got the baton and he dropped it. Then I fouled all my jumps in the long jump. So that was the biggest shock for me.”

Demiel said graduating last week outweighs winning a title, but not by much.

“I just graduated,” he said. “Graduation was more for my mom and this [title] is for my team. We had a tough year. But they are both up there.”

Did his mother, Cynthia Demiel, make the trip to Michigan?

“No, she couldn’t make it,” he said. “She’s watching online. Every event. She texted me, though.”

Demeil said competing for Williams isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding.

“It’s tough,” he said. “He’s always on us. We keep going because we don’t want to let him down. It’s a tradition to win here. We don’t wanna be the team to lose.”

The members of on the title team are: Moussa Dembele (110 hurdles), Demiel (long jump), Burkheart Ellis Jr. (200, 400, 4x100, 4x400), Khari Herbert (400, 4x100, 4x400), Kevaugh Hewitt (4x400), Immanuel Hutchinson (4x400), Daniel Jameison (100, 200, 4x100), Omar Johnson (200, 400, 4x400), Claytin Lewis (4x100) and David Shaw (triple jump).

“I like the way they ran the championship this year,” Williams said of GVSU, which hosted back-to-back years. “It was a beautiful championship.”

COURTESY NCAA.COM

Runners Up! Lincoln University (Mo.) Takes 2nd at National Championships

Courtesy: Lincoln University Athletics

ALLENDALE, Michigan -- The Lincoln women's track & field team won three events and posted seven All-American performances to finish second at the 2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships on Saturday (May 23). Six different Blue Tigers earned All-American honors at the national title meet, which was hosted by Grand Valley State University from Thursday (May 21) through Saturday.

The day began with the Lincoln 4x100m relay team of Keja Christie, Kimberly Bailey, Yanique Ellington and Janae Johnson winning in 44.62, marking the second-straight season that LU has won the national title in that event. Lincoln also had a pair of individual national champions, with Johnson later winning the 100m in 11.38 and Ladonna Richards taking the crown in the 100m hurdles in 13.32.

Johnson earned her third All-American distinction of the day while Ellington picked up her second in the 200m, with the duo finishing third and second, respectively. Ellington was the race's runner-up with a time of 23.01. Johnson, meanwhile, finished right behind Ellington after clocking in at 23.10.

Richards was also a multiple All-American, as she placed seventh in the 400m hurdles in 59.69. Jhevere Hall was LU's final point scorer of the afternoon, as she earned All-American distinction in the 800m after placing fifth in 2:06.62.

Jonelle Campbell also competed for LU on Saturday, representing the Blue Tigers in the triple jump. Campbell placed 13th with a distance of 12.04m.

The Blue Tigers scored 50 points to finish as the national runner-up at the 2015 championships. This marks the 11th time in the past 13 NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship meets that Lincoln has placed either first or second, and the 13th-straight time that LU has finished in the top-three.

Central Missouri scored just nine more points than Lincoln to win the national title with 59. New Mexico Highlands scored 42 points to place third while host Grand Valley State took fourth with 41 points. Fellow MIAA program Pittsburg State rounded out the top-five with 31 points.

2015 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championship Central

Dan Carr, Assistant AD for Media Relations
COURTESY LINCOLN UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS

SAU Falcons Win Third Consecutive NCAA Men's Outdoor Crown To Give Williams Most NCAA Track and Field Titles

ALLENDALE, Michigan -- Saint Augustine's University displayed its superior depth once again in winning a third consecutive men's national crown at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the Grand Valley State University campus Saturday, May 23, 2015. The Falcons have claimed 36 men's and women's indoor and outdoor titles overall under legendary Head Coach George Williams, who now has the most NCAA track and field championships as a coach, regardless of division.

The Falcons clinched the victory in the men's 200-meter dash late in the meet. They trailed 50-47 to the University of Findlay heading into the event, but Burkheart Ellis, Jr. (Jr./Raleigh, NC) finished third in the 200 to give the Falcons a 53-50 lead with two events left. The lead held as the Falcons won their 13th NCAA Division II men's outdoor title. Ashland University placed third with 43 points.

The Lady Falcons tied for eighth among the women's teams with 26 points. Central Missouri won the women's outdoor title with 59 points followed by Lincoln (Mo.) University with 50 points and New Mexico Highlands University with 42 points.

Coach Williams was proud of both teams, especially his men's squad, who entered Saturday with 10 points after David Shaw, Jr. (Sr./Red Springs, NC) won the triple jump Friday. This was the first time in Williams' illustrious 39-year coaching career that the Falcons competed without a men's 4x400-meter relay team in the finals. The Falcons had won 21 of 28 men's mile-relay races at the NCAA outdoor championships, and were the three-time defending champs in their signature event.

The Falcons also competed without a high jumper or a 400-meter hurdler in the finals, but they had more than enough sprinters to take home another championship trophy.

"It was a blessing," Williams said about the Falcons' latest championship. "The kids did their jobs well and came through for the team. We are glad to be a part of the Mighty Falcons. The sons and daughters of Saint Augustine's University did what they were supposed to do."

The Falcons stepped up in the other men's events to quickly move up the leaderboard. The 4x100-meter relay team held off Pittsburg State University to finish second and Moussa Dembele (Sr./Dakar, Senegal) was seventh in the men's 110-meter hurdles early in the meet. The 4x100 squad consisted of JaQuan Demiel (Sr./Suffolk, VA), Ellis, Kevaughn Hewitt (Sr./Miramar, FL) and Daniel Jamieson (Jr./Windsor, CT).

The pivotal race was the men's 400-meter dash when the Falcons scored 19 points to take their first lead. Omar Johnson (Jr./St. Ann, Jamaica), ranked first in the 400 for the final five weeks of the regular season, won the national title in the event while Khari Herbert, Jr. (So./Coral Springs, FL) was third and Ellis placed sixth.

Several other Falcons scored critical points late. Jamieson placed sixth in the men's 100-meter finals and Immanuel Hutchinson (Jr./San Jacinto, CA) finished fourth in the men's 800-meter finals. Their points help the Falcons keep pace with Findlay, who re-gained the lead briefly before Ellis pushed the champs ahead for good in the 200.

In the women's events, Belle was the biggest highlight for the Lady Falcons on Saturday. She entered the meet as the top-ranked 400-meter hurdler for the last eight weeks and she did not disappoint. Belle ran a career-best 57.45 seconds to win the national title in an event she dominated during the regular season.

Belle also helped the Lady Falcons place second in the women's 4x400-meter relay and eighth in the women's 4x100-meter relay. The 4x400 relay team included Sherrie-Ann Ashman (Sr./Brooklyn, NY), Cherrisse Lynch (Sr./Bridgetown, Barbados) and Fanta Fofana (Sr./Amiens, France). The 4x100 relay squad included Ashman, Shakinah Brooks (So./Raleigh, NC) and Ornella Livingston (Jr./Christiana, Jamaica).

Coach Williams went into the meet tied with Texas A&M University Head Coach Pat Henry for the most NCAA track & field championships as a coach before surpassing him Saturday. Williams, also the Saint Augustine's University Athletic Director, has the most NCAA track & field titles for a coach at one school, regardless of division, and the most NCAA Division II track & field championships as a coach.

The Falcons and Lady Falcons will arrive at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, N.C., on Southwest Airlines Sunday, May 24, at 9:55 p.m.

COURTESY SAINT AUGUSTINE'S UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION