Posted by Gene Renfro - Thu, May 21, 2009 - [ Men's Outdoor Track & Field ] - Viewed 418 times

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Union College saw all four NAIA Men's Outdoor Track & Field National qualifiers advance in the opening day of the meet Thursday held at the University of Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Johnnie Nabors (Lawrenceville, Ga.) won his heat of the 100-meter dash in 10.74 seconds to move into Friday's semifinals. He has the second-fastest time behind King (Tenn.) College's Kemar Hyman who posted a 10.62 second run.

In the last event of the day for Union, Nabors advanced in the 200 thanks to a second-place run in his heat. Nabors' time of 21.572 has him sixth going into the semifinals Saturday. King's Tyrell Cuffy ran the fastest prelim at 21.28.

A 47.80 second performance sent Andre Thornton (Loganville, Ga.) into the 400 semifinals also to be contested Friday. The run was the second fastest in the heat and ranks the Bulldog fifth overall. Allan Ayala, the 2008 champion and Dickinson State (N.D.) University runner, owns the fastest time after he ran the lap in 51.95.

Nabors ran the opening leg of Union's 400 relay team that also advanced. The Bulldogs completed the lap in 41.50 seconds which was third in the heat and 10th overall. Thornton was the second runner followed by Scotty Barnes (Ewing, Va.) and Marekus Smith (Lithonia, Ga.) Doane (Neb.) University and a time of 40.64 ranks first.

Friday's action for Union gets underway at 2:50 CDT with Nabors in the 100 semifinals. The 100 finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. Thornton's 400 semifinals will start at 3:10 p.m. and Union's 400 relay semifinal race follows at 4:05 p.m. The Bulldogs' 1,600 relay squad will run at 8:35 p.m. to finish the second day of action.

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