Fayetteville, Ark. (June 11, 2009) ? Delaware State University's Leslie Murray has reached the final in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2009 NCAA National Outdoor Championships. Murray, a freshman, was second in his heat and fourth among the nine finalists with a school-record time of 49.83 seconds in the semi-finals at the University of Arkansas Thursday evening. Jeshua Anderson of Washington State posted the top qualifying time of 49.27 seconds. Murray, the 2009 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion in the 400-meter hurdles, will compete with eight others for the NCAA championship on Friday evening. The top eight finishers are recognized as All-America.
Delaware State sophomore Donte Holmes fell short in his bid to reach the final in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships. Holmes was 11th in the semi-finals with a time of 1:47.61 this evening. The top nine qualifiers advanced to Saturday's championship race. Holmes, the 2009 MEAC 800-meter champion, has reached the NCAA nationals in each of the last two years.
The Hornets were also edged out of the finals in the 1600-meter relay at the NCAA Championships this evening. The DSU team of Murray, Holmes, Burton Clarke and Larrone were 10th in the preliminaries with a school-record time of 3:05.21, just behind final qualifier LSU, which posted a time of 3:05.09.
