Men's Track

Jarid Vaughan ran the final leg of the 4x100-meter relay on Friday. UTA posted the fastest qualifying time with a 39.85.

MAVS MARCH TO REGION FINALS

Men's 4x100-meter relay, Connaughton and McDowell post qualifying times

The UT Arlington men's 4x100-meter relay team of Jared Connaughton, Byron Majors, Coby Morrison and Jarid Vaughan clocked the fastest qualifying time of 39.85 seconds to advance to Saturday's finals of the 2007 NCAA Midwest Region Track and Field Championship at Drake Stadium Friday afternoon.

The top finishers in each heat and the top four remaining times advance to Saturday's finals. The top five finishers in each region advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championship, June 7-9, in Sacramento, Calif.

Senior Jon McDowell (Odessa, Texas) advanced to the 110-meter hurdles finals after winning Heat 3 with a 13.74. His time was the second fastest qualifying time behind Marlon Odom of Texas Tech (13.66).

Connaughton, an 11-time all-Southland Conference performer, advanced to the Saturday finals with the sixth fastest qualifying time of 20.99.

Senior Ivorita Taylor clocked the third fastest 800-meter time in school history with a 2:08.13, but failed to advance to the finals, finishing 11th in the prelims.

The women's 400-meter relay team of Kim Hargers, Kourtnee Jones, Jasmine Walls and Shana Rash posted a time of 45.53 seconds to finish sixth in their heat and miss qualifying for the finals by .01 seconds. Kansas clipped the Mavs in the heat with a time of 45.52.

In the pole vault, Jared Tuel cleared the opening height of 16-01.25 and finished 17th. Shay Collett and Wade Hayes missed the opening height on all three attempts.

Jones, a region finalist last year, ran an 11.84 in the 100-meter prelims.

Sophomore Eddie Beckwith clocked a 46.94 in the 400 meters and finished third in Heat 3 but failed to advance to Saturday's finals.

Morrison finished 10th overall in the 400-meter hurdles with a 51.92.

On Saturday, Andrew Duncan competes in the triple jump. Vanessa Maida will compete in the women's pole vault and the men's 4x400-meter relay is at 6:05 p.m.

-utamavs.com -