The University of Florida will proudly welcome several hundred of the nation’s top track and field athletes and their fans to Gainesville this weekend serving host to the NCAA East Regional Championships on May 25-26 at James G. Pressley Stadium at Percy Beard Track. The athletes will be competing for the right to advance to the 2007 NCAA T&F Championships in Sacramento, Calif., on June 6-9. The Gators’ women’s squad will feature 20 athletes competing in 17 events.

Nearly 500 athletes from 100 colleges and universities will be in Gainesville for the NCAA East Regional Championships. The top five finishers in each individual event and the top three relays in the 4x100m and 4x400m will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

The Gators have five athletes who enter the meet ranked in the top-five of their respected events amongst NCAA East Regional competitors: Freshman Mariam Kevkhishvili (Tbilisi, Georgia) in the shot put, freshman Evelien Dekkers (Etten-Leur, The Netherlands) in the javelin, junior Lakecia Ealey (Albany, Ga.) in the 100m, junior Lorain McKenzie (Clarendon, Jamaica) in the 800m and freshman Lori Bowen (Tallahassee, Fla.) in the pole vault.

Kevkhishvili will be competing fresh off the heals of tossing the nation’s sixth-best shot put, a mark of 17.05m/55-11.25, to win the Southeastern Conference shot put title. It was Kevkhishvili’s second victory of the season and it came by nearly six and a half feet ahead of the second-place finisher and was also a personal-best for by 15 inches. Kevkhishvili became Florida’s first SEC outdoor champion in the event since Kim Barrett in 2004. She is just the third freshman in UF history to win an SEC shot put title, but is the first Gator to achieve the feat in her first year of collegiate competition. Her title winning toss also ranks fourth in UF history and is the No. 1 mark amongst NCAA East Regional competitors. Kevkhishvili looks to become the first freshman to win the NCAA East Regional shot put title. Kevkhishvili is the only freshman ranked amongst the nation’s top-29 shot put competitors.

Dekkers’ javelin throw of 52.84m/173-4, tossed at the Sun Angel Classic on April 14, ranks fifth in the nation, second in UF history, second in the SEC and third amongst East Regional competitors. Dekkers is the only freshman amongst the nation’s top-29 javelin throwers. Dekkers finished the SEC Championships on May 13 in fourth with a throw of 48.85m/160-3. Dekkers will be vying to become Florida’s first All-American in the javelin since Emily Carlsten in 2000. Dekkers will also compete in the discus this weekend. She turned in the seventh-best discus mark in the SEC this season at the Mesa Classic on April 13 when she recorded a personal-best toss of 47.85/157-0.

Ealey clocked 11.39 in the 100m at the California Collegiate Challenge on April 28. The mark would have been a personal-best time for Ealey but was a wind-aided mark. Nonetheless, she still holds a personal-best of 11.42, fifth in UF history. Her mark of 11.39 ranks third in the NCAA East Region and is sixth in the SEC. She finished seventh at the SEC Championships with a time of 11.55 in the finals, after having run the third-fastest preliminary time of 11.43. Ealey leads the Gators with a total of 10 regional qualifying marks this season. Four of those marks have come in the 100m, while she has also been apart of every regional qualifying relay team for the Gators (three times in the 4x100m and three times in the 4x400m).

McKenzie ran a personal-best time 2:05.68 to take third at the SEC Championships. The mark ranks third in the East Region, 15th nationally and comes in at No. 10 in school history. McKenzie has regionally qualified in the 800m on five occasions this season, and at the SEC Championships she was a part of a 4x400m regional qualifying relay team.

Bowen boasts the SEC’s and NCAA East Regional’s fifth-best pole vault after recording a personal-best mark of 3.91m/12-10.0 at the National Training Center Spring Fling on April 21. The mark also ranks fifth in Florida outdoor history and completes a trifecta of fifth-place rankings. Bowen cleared a height of 3.80m/12-5.50 at the SEC Championships to finish in fifth. Bowen recorded six regional qualifying performances this season.

The NCAA East Regional will begin at noon ET on Friday, May 25, with the men’s hammer throw. The first scheduled women’s event, the high jump, will be contested starting at 1 p.m. Full coverage of the meet including a complete schedule of events and live results can be found at www.GatorZone.com.

WOMEN’S SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Friday, May 25, 2007

Field Events:

1 p.m.           High Jump Final

3 p.m.           Javelin Final

6 p.m.           Shot Put Final

                   Long Jump Final

Track Events

3:15 p.m.      4x100m Prelims

3:50 p.m.      1,500m Prelims

4:30 p.m.      100m Hurdles Prelims

5:10 p.m.      100m Prelims

5:50 p.m.      400m Prelims

6:30 p.m.      800m Prelims

7:10 p.m.      400m Hurdles Prelims

7:50 p.m.      200m Prelims

8:50 p.m.      5,000m Finals

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Field Events

12 p.m.         Hammer Throw Final

3 p.m.           Pole Vault Final

6 p.m.           Triple Jump Final

7 p.m.           Discus Final

Track Events

5:40 p.m.      4x100m Finals

6 p.m.           1,500m Finals

6:25 p.m.      100m Hurdles Finals

6:40 p.m.      100m Final

6:50 p.m.      400m Finals

7 p.m.           800m Finals

7:20 p.m.      400m Hurdles Finals

7:35 p.m.      200m Finals

8:10 p.m.      3,000m Steeplechase Finals

8:50 p.m.      4x400m Finals

*All Times Eastern

OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION:

Tickets

Two-Day Session

$15 Adults

$10 Senior Citizens/Students/Children under 12

One-Day

$10 Adults

$7 Senior Citizens/Students/Children under 12

Parking

Fans may park at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center parking lot as well as the Florida Law School parking lot.

Media parking at James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track is located directly west of the stadium, underneath the grandstands. Parking is extremely limited and will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis until exhausted. Media unable to park in the media zoned area can also seek parking at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center and Florida Law School parking lots.

Drink Containers

Each spectator will be allowed to bring ONE container per person of up to 20 oz. in size into the stadium. No other food or beverages will be allowed.

Concessions

Concessions (food and drink) will be available on both days.

Heat Sheets

NCAA programs will be available at the Gator Sport Shop located in the stadium. Heat sheets will also be available and are $2 per set each day.

Prohibited Items

Beverage containers larger than 20 ounces (limit one container per person), thermoses, ice bags, ice chests, any artificial noise making device, large cameras, flags, tents, large video cameras/cases, strollers or any items deemed hazardous by game management personnel will not be allowed in the stadium. Chairbacks small enough for one seat will be allowed, but larger chairbacks will be prohibited. Alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited. Law enforcement officials have the right to inspect any item at any time for the purpose of spectator safety.

Back Packs/Bags

All back packs or bags of any kind will be searched at the entry gates and prohibited items must be returned to vehicles or disposed of before entering the stadium. There are no provisions to check items at the gates.

-UF-