Many Panthers turned in strong performances at this past weekend’s 2008 NCAA Outdoor Regional… Many Panthers turned in strong performances at this past weekend’s 2008 NCAA Outdoor Regional Track and Field Championships, despite not containing a qualifier to the NCAA Championships.

After competing in the NCAA Regionals two weeks ago, nine Panthers took part in last weekend’s Outdoor Regionals, held at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

Many Panthers left the weekend placing in the top-20 of their respective events, and there still remains the possibility to go the NCAA Championships via an at-large bid.

Coming to the end of her Panther career, senior Shantea Calhoun led the way once again as she left the Outdoor Regionals with top-15 finishes in both events she participated in over the weekend.

She placed 11th in the 200-meter dash and 14th in the 100-meter dash, narrowly missing out on a spot in the final heat.

Mycaiah Clemons claimed the second-highest finish. The junior placed 12th in the preliminaries of 100-meter hurdles with her time of 13.88 seconds.

Brianna Broyles picked an opportune time to record her season-best run on the 400-meter hurdles. The sophomore’s time of 59.48 earned her a 13th-place finish.

Shanea Calhoun competed along with sister Shantea in the same heat of the 200-meter dash. She scored a 16th-place finish overall with her time of 24.08, placing her fifth in the heat.

The sisters again competed in the same race, this time as half of the 4×100-meter relay team. Shanea was lead leg of the team and was joined by Shantea, freshman Da’Lynn Mills and junior Raquel Bender.

With their time of 45.58, they placed 15th overall and fourth in their heat.

Janessa Murphy will also compete this weekend at Florida State. The junior earned a 17th-place finish in the long jump with her leap of 5.78 meters.

Freshman Nicole Cherry continued her debut season after finishing 22nd in the javelin throw with her toss of 40.74 meters.

Rounding out the Panthers who qualified for the Outdoor Regionals, senior Amy Ruffalo finished 29th in the steeplechase with her time of 11:30.75.