MORROW, Ga. – May 13, 2008 – California, here we come!

Clayton State will be sending its largest number of track & field athletes since 2004 to next week’s NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in California. Earlier on Tuesday, Clayton State received official notice that five Laker athletes – three from the women’s team and two from the men’s team — will compete in the Division II championship meet May 22-24 in Walnut, Calif.

The meet is being hosted by Cal Poly Pomona.

Clayton State will be sending the most athletes to an outdoor championship since the last time the meet was held at the same location in 2004. That year, the Lakers sent five from its men’s team that included a freshman by the name of Eric Simmons. Now a senior, the Carrollton, Ga. native will run in his final collegiate meet and hopes to duplicate the success he experienced his last trip to California when he earned All-American honors.

Simmons will enter the meet ranked No. 7 in the nation with a career-best time of 47.03 for the 400-meter dash.

"This is a fine honor for the folks we are sending to nationals this year," said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. "Our program has made big gains this year and this bunch led the charge. They earned the trip and each one has a solid shot at finishing in the Top Eight in their respective events to earn All-American honors."

The women’s team will be sending its largest delegation to the Division II championship meet. The squad will be led by two-time Division II All-American senior Allison Kreutzer. She’ll be accompanied by two first-time meet qualifiers in junior Kim Larry and sophomore Keisha Etienne.

Kreutzer will compete in the 10,000-meter run, while Larry will be in the high jump and Etienne in the 400-meter hurdles.

Kreutzer, who placed in both the 5,000-meters and 10,000-meter races at last year’s Division II National championships, guided the Laker women to a Top 20 finish in 2007. But the Lilburn, Ga., native missed the cut for this year’s 5,000-meter field and will only be running the 10,000-meter race in which she finished fourth in 2007.

In her only 10,000-meter race of this season, Kreutzer ran 36:05.95 back on March 28 at the Emory Classic. She will enter the meet ranked No. 9, the same ranking as in 2007 and will be the top returning finisher from last year’s 10,000-meter event.

Larry, from Tupelo, Miss., enters the meet as one of the top high jumpers in Division II this season. Also a center on head coach Dennis Cox’s nationally-ranked Clayton State women’s basketball team, Larry became the first Clayton State track & field athlete to make an automatic qualifying mark, leaping 5-8¾ at the Coach O Invitational on April 26 at Troy.

She will enter the meet in a three-way tie for the No. 1 ranking.

Etienne becomes the youngest Clayton State Laker female athlete to make it to a national meet. Sidelined by injury during her freshman outdoor season, Etienne made major breakthroughs in the 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdle events. It is the 400-meter hurdles that she will compete at nationals. The Miami, Fla. native enters the meet having run a 1:01.75 and will be seeded No. 17.

Besides Simmons qualifying in the 400-meter dash, the other men’s qualifier is junior Ahmad Rolle in the triple jump. A native of Nassau, Bahamas, Rolle will be making his second appearance in an NCAA Division II championship meet this season. During indoor season, Rolle qualified for the indoor championship meet and came away with a fourth place finish in the triple jump, leaping a school record 49-7¼ feet.

Rolle qualified for the outdoor championships with a leap of 48-7¾ and will enter the meet seeded No. 17.

The Lakers had one member miss the cut as junior Jon Taylor from the women’s team missed out in the long jump. Taylor had qualified for indoor nationals in the event and leaped 18-10 last Friday at Georgia, but missed the cut by less than three inches.

Kreutzer will run her final collegiate track & field race on May 22, while Simmons and Etienne will run in preliminary rounds. Larry and Rolle will compete in finals on May 24, as will Simmons and Etienne should they advance to the finals in their events. The meet will be run at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College.