Houston Takes 18th at NCAA Nationals Prelims

DES MOINES, Iowa – CSU sprinter Gabrielle Houston raced to an 18th place finish in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash at the NCAA National meet on Thursday evening.  The event was held at Drake Stadium in Des Mones, Iowa.

Houston ran a 23.60, placing eighth in her heat and 18th out of 24 competitors.  She missed the cut for finals as the top two from each heat plus the next two fastest competitors advanced to the final heat.    LSU’s Kimberly Duncan and Semony Hackett enter tomorrow’s heats ranked first and second, respectively.  Duncan ran a 22.19 to take first by .39 seconds.  All but one of the eight competitors for tomorrow’s final broke the 23.00 mark. 

“I’m so incredibly proud of her,” says head coach Tosha Ansley.  “To take a year off and come back to make it to nationals is truly an accomplishment.  It was a great experience for both of us and I think this will be something great that she can share with our younger kids as something to work for next season.”

For her performance, Houston earned USTFCCCA All-American Honorable Mention.    Houston represented the smallest school and conference in her event, competing with runners from the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Big East.