May 25, 2011

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU women's track and field team had 11 student-athletes qualify in 12 events for the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round for the NCAA Championships, Thursday, May 25, through Saturday, May 28, in Eugene, Ore. Junior Simone Du Toit and senior Silje Fjortoft qualified for the national championships for the second straight year.

du Toit won the preliminary round in discus and finished sixth at the NCAA Championships, and was second in shot put, while Fjortoft won the 3,000-meter steeplechase preliminary to advance in 2010.

du Toit is coming of gold medal performances at the Conference USA Championships, where she claimed both the shot put and discus titles for the third time in three years. She is second in the NCAA in discus this season, and 11th in the shot put.

Helena Perez also qualified for the preliminaries in the shot put after climbing to 31st in the nation with a second place finish at the C-USA Championships. The shot put is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. CT Thursday, while the discus will be held at noon CT on Saturday.

Fjortoft and Klara Bodinson will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday. The duo finished 1-2 at the C-USA Championships, led by Bodinson, who is sixth in the country. Fjortoft is ranked 16th.

Mary Allenbratt will compete in the 1,500-meter run after posting the 25th fastest time in the NCAA this season at the Stanford Invitational, while Kristine Eikrem-Engeset (1,500), Lovisa Lindh (800) and Amber Evans (400) all ran their way into the preliminaries with top times at the C-USA Championships. Evans climbed to 13th in the NCAA with and SMU-record setting silver medal performance. Eikrem-Engeset was second in the 1,500 with Allenbratt in third at the C-USA Championships, while Lindh won the 800.

Lisa Egarter, who posted the highest jump in Conference USA and seventh highest in the NCAA with a high jump of 1.85 meters, and Viktoria Leks qualified in the high jump. Ayla Gill rounds out the field for SMU in the hammer throw. The junior finished third at the C-USA Championships.

SMU's 11 athletes qualifying in 12 events is the third most among C-USA schools. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, click here.