In the final meet for Emory University before the 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships, a number of Eagles made improvements to their qualifying times at the Gregory Invitational at North Central College in Naperville, IL on Thursday and Friday.

Emory senior Ian Francis won the long jump at the meet with a distance of 7.27 meters, just one hundredth of a meter short of the school record, set by Troy Thompson in 1997.  It ranked as the 13^th-best mark in Division III this season, putting Francis in strong position to qualify for the NCAA Championships next weekend.

Senior Xavier Fowler added a career-best mark of 14.44 meters in the triple jump, the 31^st-best mark in Division III, and good for a third-place finish at the meet.  Junior Stephen Ellwood added a time of 4:03.36 in the 1,500-meter run, finishing in 17^th place.

For the women, senior Alix Dyer set her second school record in as many weeks, recording a time of 25.03 seconds in the 200-meter dash and finishing third overall.  It was the 33^rd-fastest mark in Division III this season, and broke Jane Ukandu's previous school-record time of 25.07 seconds, set during the 2005 season.  Dyer was also Emory's top finisher in the 100-meter run, finishing third in the finals after running a preliminary time of 12.34 seconds.

Sophomore Morgan Monroe also put herself in the running for a spot in the NCAA Championships, recording a season-best time of 14.53 seconds in the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries. Her time ranks as the 20^th-best in Division III this season and the sixth-best in school history.  Monroe finished fourth in the finals of the event.

Other top marks at the meet came from senior Lauren Attiah in the 400-meter dash (fifth place, 57.85 seconds), senior Tess Gallegos in the 5,000-meter run (fifth place, 17:48.71), senior Charlotte Diggs in the 400-meter hurdles (fourth place, 1:02.93), and Attiah and junior Theresa Ford in the high jump (third place, 1.66m each).  In addition, Emory's 4x100-meter relay finished second with a time of 47.95 seconds.

With the deadline to qualify for the NCAA Championships passing Friday night, a number of Emory runners look to be in a strong position to qualify.  With the NCAA Championship meet accepting the top 20 men and 22 women in each individual event, and the top 16 relays, the Eagles will likely be represented by five individuals competing in seven events, in addition to two relays.

For the Emory men, Francis currently ranks ninth in the triple jump (14.82 meters) and 13^th in the long jump (7.27 meters).  Individual qualifiers for the women look to be Dyer in the 400-meter run (15^th, 56.34 seconds), Monroe in the 100-meter hurdles (tied for 20^th, 14.53 seconds), Diggs in the 400-meter hurdles (20^th, 1:02.47), and Attiah in the triple jump (ninth, 12.03m) and long jump (tied for 17^th, 5.71 meters), in addition to the Eagles' women's 4x100-meter (seventh, 47.17 seconds) and 4x400-meter (seventh, 3:48.96) relays.

The final and official list of meet participants for the NCAA Championships will be posted to NCAA.com on Sunday, May 20^th.  The 2012 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place from Thursday, May 24^th – Saturday, May 26^th at Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges in Claremont, California.