May 31, 2002

Three Wildcat men's track & field runners qualified for the finals at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on the campus of Louisiana State University.

In the 400 meter hurdles, junior Nic O'Brien (Auckland, New Zealand) finished second in his heat with a time of 50.22 to qualify for the finals to be held at 7:20 p.m. on Friday, May 31. O'Brien's time ranks as the eighth fastest among all the preliminary heats. Freshman Bennie Brazell of LSU ran the fastest time with a clocking of 49.57.

Three Wildcats including junior Adrian Blincoe (Auckland, New Zealand), sophomore Ryan Hayden (Richmond, Canada) and junior Tom Parlapiano (Honeybrook, Pa.) all participated in the 1,500m trials held on Thursday, May 30. Blincoe and Hayden both qualified for the finals, with Blincoe tallying a time of 3:42.16 and Hayden right behind in 3:42.27. Blincoe owns the ninth best time entering the finals, while Hayden has the 10th best effort. Parlapiano finished 15th after the preliminaries with a time of 3:45.42 and failed to advance to Saturday's final to be held at 8 p.m. Dan Wilson of the University of Connecticut registered the fastest time in the event with a clocking of 3:40.27.