May 17, 2008

AUBURN, Ala.-The Alabama men's track and field team continued the SEC Conference Championships today and stands in third overall as a team with one day remaining. The Crimson Tide got another great effort out of the distance squad Saturday at the Hutsell-Rosen Track.

Juniors Augustus Maiyo and Abraham Kutingala finished third and seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase with times of 8:47.57 and 9:01.45, respectively. Fellow distance runner Emmanuel Bor advanced to tomorrow's 1,500m finals with a time of 3:51.28. Bor finished third in last year's event.

"Points are hard to come by at this meet with ten teams ranked in the top 35," head coach Harvey Glance said, "This meet is like a pre-nationals meet, it does not seem like a conference meet".

Continuing to impress in his first SEC outdoor meet, sophomore Tim Grier placed fourth in the long jump leaping to a new personal best of 25-05.25. Grier will compete in the finals of the 400m hurdles tomorrow.

Senior Michael Cooley will compete in the 200m finals tomorrow as the number two seed with a time of 21.00.

With one day remaining, Arkansas leads the meet with 45 points being chased by Auburn who has 39 points. Alabama sits in third with 28 followed by Kentucky with 27, Florida with 22, Tennessee with 21, Mississippi with 17, LSU with 16, Georgia with 12, Mississippi State with six, and South Carolina with one.

The SEC Championships will continue tomorrow with the men's javelin at 12:30 p.m. while the first running event is slated for 5:00 p.m.