May 29, 2003
Four Penguins Compete in NCAA Regionals
    Youngstown -- The Youngstown State men's and women's track and field teams will have four athletes compete at the 2003 NCAA Mideast Regional at The Ohio State University beginning on Friday at the Jesse Owens Memorial Staidum. Representing YSU will be Kurt Michaelis, Eugene Harris, Delores Gaines and Beth Hochstetler.
    Michaelis will be competing in three events -- the 800 meters, the 1,500 meters and the Steeplechase -- Harris will run in the 100 and 200 meters, Gaines is competing in the shot put and Hochstetler will be throwing the discus.
    Michaelis will run Friday night in the 800-meter run and the 1,500-meter run preliminaries. Harris will compete in the 100 and 200 preliminaries while Gaines will take part in the shot put finales. On Saturday, if Michaelis and Harris qualify they run in the finals of their events. Hochstetler competes in the discus finals and in the final men's individual event, Michaelis runs in the steeplechase at 8:30 p.m.
    Overall, there are representatives from 76 men's teams and 77 women's teams at the Mideast Regional. Included in those are SEC powers Arkansas, Tennessee, LSU, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama and Auburn, seven teams from the Big Ten, Big East Champion Notre Dame as well as Missouri from the Big 12 Conference. Teams from the Mid-American Conference, the Southern Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference, Conference USA, the Sun Belt Conference, among others will be competing.
    From the Horizon League, Butler, Detroit, Illinois-Chicago, UW-Milwaukee and YSU will have participants on the men's side. On the women's side Butler, Detroit, Illinois-Chicago, Wright State, UW-Milwaukee and YSU make up the Mideast Horizon League participants.
    In order to make the NCAA Outdoor Championships, athletes must finish in the top five of their event or in the top three in the relay events. The NCAA will also use the national descending order list to fill the rest of the NCAA Championships field. Other regional sites are George Mason, Nebraska and Stanford.
    The 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held in Sacramento, Calif., hosted by Cal-State Sacramento at Hornet Stadium from June 11-14.

YSU Athletes/Times of Competition

Friday
Kurt Michaelis -- 4:45 p.m., 1,500-meter run preliminaries
Delores Gaines -- 5:30 p.m., Shot Put finals
Eugene Harris -- 6:45 p.m., 100-meter dash preliminaries
Kurt Michaelis -- 7:15 p.m., 800-meter run preliminaries
Eugene Harris -- 8:15 p.m., 200-meter dash preliminaries

Saturday
Beth Hochstetler -- 5:30 p.m., Discus finals
Kurt Michaelis -- 6:23 p.m., 1,500-meter run finals*
Eugene Harris -- 7:08 p.m., 100-meter dash finals*
Kurt Michaelis -- 7:23 p.m., 800-meter run finals*
Eugene Harris -- 7:53 p.m., 200-meter dash finals*
Kurt Michaelis -- 8:30 p.m., Steeplechase

*if qualify on Friday