Waithe, Whitehead Earn NCAA At-Large Selections
5/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Per the NCAA announcement Tuesday (May 30) of its final declaration list for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, University of Michigan juniors Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven HS) and Michael Whitehead (East Norristown, Pa./Norristown Area HS) have extended their seasons and earned at-large invitations to the annual event, slated for June 7-10 in Sacramento, Calif.
It will be a repeat visit to the national meet for both Wolverine competitors, who finished outside the top-five automatic-qualifying positions at last weekend's NCAA Mideast Regional. They will join Michigan's lone automatic qualifier, sophomore 1,500-meter runner Mike Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Hillcrest HS), to make up the U-M contingent.
Waithe owns a season-best time of 46.15 in the 400-meter run, a performance which ranks him 17th among the 26-man NCAA performance list. It will mark Waithe's second straight NCAA appearance. Last season, Waithe took sixth place in his preliminary heat to miss the semifinal cut.
Whitehead will also make his second NCAA appearance in the triple jump and look to improve on his 11th-place finish at last season's meet, in which he fell just one spot shy of All-America honors. Whitehead boasts a season best of 51-11 3/4 in the event and lists 20th among the 26-man NCAA triple jump field.
The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place at the Alex Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif., with Sacramento State serving as host. Live television coverage will be offered by CSTV on June 9, while CBS Sports will offer live final-day coverage on June 10 from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT.
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
