TROY, Ala. – April 26, 2008 – It was a junior class party of sorts for the Clayton State Laker women’s track & field team on Saturday afternoon.

High jumper Kim Larry made Clayton State track & field history, Keisha Etienne continued her unbeaten streak in the 400-meter hurdles while improving her chances at a trip to the NCAA’s and Jon Taylor added her name to the NCAA Division II provisional qualification list in the long jump as the Lakers set five team records at the Coach O Invitational at Troy.

Larry became the first Clayton State track & field athlete on Saturday to ever make an NCAA Division II automatic qualifying mark as she leaped to a height of 5-9 feet while finishing second in the women’s high jump competition. As Larry was seeking the meet and stadium record of 5-10, teammate Etienne cruised to victory in the 400-meter hurdles with an NCAA Division II provisional time of 1:01.75 while bettering her team mark.

Larry eventually missed out on a meet/stadium record, but guaranteed herself a trip to the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships May 24-26 in Walnut, Calif.

"We had another terrific team performance," said Laker head coach Mike Mead. "Kim had a gutsy performance, while Keisha had our best performance of the meet, winning the 400-meter hurdles and splitting 55.8 on our 4x400-meter relay."

Clayton State ended the meet with a stellar run in the 4x400m relay, bettering the team record by nearly seven seconds with the same team of Etienne, Taylor, Kara Stoke and Terrica Hamilton who lowered the mark at the season-opening meet at Emory. Etienne ran second leg on the relay in which she ran her remarkable split and helped the Lakers finish third overall in the relay.

Earlier in the afternoon, Taylor hit a Division II provisional mark in the long jump by leaping 18-4½ and bettering her school record to finish fifth in the event.

The final team record of the meet came in an unconventional way from Allison Kreutzer in the 3,000-meter run.

The senior missed the start of the women’s race and was allowed to run in the slow section of the men’s 3,000m race. She came in dead-last but ran 10:09.75 hand-timed to better her own school record by three seconds that she had set her freshman year. Her time bettered the NCAA Division II provisional time for the event, but since she ran in the men’s field, the time is not allowed.

Kreutzer, along with freshman Chelsea Ellis gave the Lakers a two-three finish in the 1500-meter run. Kreutzer ran a season-best 4:46.55, while Ellis ran her second-best time of 4:51.10. Ellis came back later in the meet to fun 2:22.19 in the 800-meter run.

The Lakers also got a strong showing from Shantel Ragin in the triple jump (36-2) with a fifth place finish, while Kara Stokes also finished sixth in the 400-meter hurdles, running a career-best 1:07.03 despite stumbling over the eighth hurdle.

The Lakers will be seeking to win the unofficial region team title next Saturday at the Division II South Region Championships at Morehouse. The meet will mark the end of the season for the majority on the team, while Etienne, Kreutzer, Larry and Taylor focus on their chances at the NCAA meet at the end of May.

"This has been our best women’s season ever," said Mead. "We have four women who have made Division II provisional marks, and we’ve set 12 team records in the process. I would like for the team to go out on a high note with a great effort at Morehouse this Saturday. This team has really pulled together and it has been fun so far."