June 8, 2005

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Samford sophomore Lauren Blankenship finished fifth in Heat 1, and ninth overall in the 5,000-meter run preliminaries at the NCAA Championships Wednesday night. With her finish, Blankenship qualifies for the NCAA Finals, which will be held Saturday night.

Blankenship ran the race in 16:16.60. Sara Bei from Stanford had the top time in the event with a time of 16:12.57.

The top eight finishers in Saturday's final will be named to the All-America team.

The finals of the 5,000-meter run are scheduled for 10:10 p.m. Central Time Saturday night. Full results will be posted on the web at www.ncaasports.com, and a full story will be posted on www.samfordsports.com.