MIAMI (May 26, 2017) – FIU track and field standout
Clarissa Cutliff tied her own school-record in the high jump on Friday evening at the NCAA East Regional Prelims which qualifies her for the NCAA Championships, June 7-10 at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
Cutliff, just a sophomore, jumped 1.82m and finished in sixth place, marking the third time this season she has leapt over the bar at that height. She also cleared 1.82m in back-to-back meets at the Florida Relays on April 1 and at the University of South Florida on April 21. This will be Cutliff's second appearance at an NCAA event this year. In February, Cutliff, the reigning C-USA indoor high jump champion, earned Second-Team All-America honors finishing 13th with a height of 1.76m at the NCAA Championships. Cutliff is also the defending C-USA outdoor high jump champion.
In other women's action, sophomore
Terrisa Russell set a new personal record in the discus with a throw of 50.67m, however fell shy of finishing in the top 12 and advancing to the National Championships with an 18th-place finish.
Freshman
Gabrielle Rains, also participating in the discus, had a solid showing in her first NCAA Regional event. Rains, who is currently ranked No. 11 in the world among all U20 female discus throwers (53.10m), finished 25th with a throw of 49.45m.
The Panthers' lone male competitor on Friday, junior Miami native and Belin Jesuit product,
Daniel Neptune, finished the 110m hurdles in a time of 14.31 for 37th place.
Graduate student
Tiffanni Hernandez had her collegiate career come to an end on Thursday with a 20th-place finish in the javelin with a throw of 45.42m.
Saturday's schedule includes freshman
Jovana Ilic competing in the triple jump and senior
Chris Sullivan taking part in the high jump.
Student-athletes finishing in the top 12 of their respective events will qualify for the NCAA Championships.
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is reognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 56,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
