Blessing Okabare

EUGENE, Ore. – Fourteen Miners arrived in Eugene, Ore., on Monday evening set to compete at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships scheduled to begin on Wednesday, June 9, and conclude on Saturday, June 12.

The meet will mark the end of an era at UTEP as head coach Bob Kitchens will retire after 22 seasons at the helm of the track and field program. Kitchens and his Miners will kick off competition at the historic Hayward Field on Wednesday afternoon.

Sprints
First up for the Miners are both semifinals in the 4×100-meter relay slated for 4 p.m. (PT). Sprinting out of the blocks first will be the men with Suji Adeniyan, Anderson Mutegi, Curtis Kock and Ronalds Arajs. The quartet posted a time of 39.72 at the NCAA West Preliminaries two weeks ago to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals. The top two of each of the three heats plus the next two best times advance to Saturday’s finals.

The women’s 4×100-meter relay is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. (PT). All-American Shalaiyah Sommerville, Endurance Abinuwa, Siobhian Crain and nine-time All-American Blessing Okagbare will do the honors for the Miners. The foursome, running the second of three heats, go into the relay race with the second-best time, 44.31, in their heat.

Arajs and Mutegi will also run individual races on Wednesday afternoon. Both will run in the third heat of their respective races, Mutegi in the 400m at 5 p.m. (PT) and Arajs in the 100m at 5:45 p.m. (PT).

Okagbare will begin her quest for an individual outdoor national championship when she takes the field in the women’s 100-meter dash in the second of three heats. The top time in her heat, Okagbare goes into the race with the fastest time in the nation this season of 11.10 recorded at the Texas Relays. The final for the women’s 100-meter dash is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (PT) on Friday. The senior was fifth at last year’s national meet.

Jumps
Okagbare will close out her career in a Miner uniform in the event that first took her to the Sun City when she lines up in the women’s long jump final on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. (PT). The Sapele, Nigeria, native also goes into that event with the nation’s top performance of 6.88m (22-7) also set at the Texas Relays earlier this season.

Distance
Cross country All-American Nicodemus Ng’etich will be the final competitor for the Miners on Wednesday night when he runs the semi-final of the men’s 3,000m steeplechase. That final is set for 6 p.m. (PT) on Friday.

Risper Kimaiyo, also an All-American following the 2009 cross country national meet, will compete in her first national championship on the track on Friday night in the women’s 5,000-meter run.

Throws
A pair of throwers will look to improve from last year’s NCAA performances. All-Americans Anna Wessman (javelin) and Dimitrios Fylladitakis (hammer) return to the national meet after third- and fifth-place finishes, respectively.

Wessman came out of the NCAA West Preliminary with the best throw of 53.13m (174-04) in both regions. The sophomore is the top returnee from last year’s national meet. That competition is also scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Senior Hans Eriksson will join Fylladitakis in the men’s hammer on Friday, 4 p.m. while junior Terran Alexander makes her debut on the national stage in the women’s hammer on Thursday.

The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships concludes June 9-12, in Eugene, Ore. Live television coverage of action can be found on CBS College Sports, Friday, June 11, starting at 8 p.m., eastern. The final day of competition will be aired live on CBS, Saturday, June 12, beginning at 1 p.m., eastern. Non-televised coverage will be streamed at no cost on NCAA.com, beginning Wednesday, June 9.

Wednesday
4 p.m. Men’s 4x100m Relay Semifinals (Adeniyan, Mutegi, Kock, Arajs)
4:15 p.m. Women’s 4x100m Relay Semifinals (Sommerville, Abinuwa, Crain, Okagbare)
5 p.m. Men’s 400m Semifinals (Mutegi)
5:45 p.m. Men’s 100m Semifinals (Arajs)
6 p.m. Women’s 100m Semifinals (Okagbare)
6:15 p.m. Men’s 3,000m Steeplechase Semifinals (Ng’etich)

Thursday
3 p.m. Women’s Hammer Finals (Alexander)

Friday
4 p.m. Men’s Hammer Finals (Fylladitakis, Eriksson)
5:25 p.m. Men’s 100m Finals
5:30 p.m. Women’s 100m Finals
6 p.m. Men’s 3,000 Steeplechase Finals
6:25 p.m. Men’s 400m Finals
6:40 p.m. Women’s 5,000m Finals (Kimaiyo)

Saturday
9:30 a.m Women’s Long Jump Finals (Okagbare)
Women’s Javelin Finals (Wessman)
10:03 a.m. Men’s 4x100m Relay
10:11 a.m. Women’s 4x100m Relay