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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The West Texas A&M No. 23 men's and No. 21 women's track & field teams began their final indoor competition of the season on Friday as qualifying individuals started competition at the 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championship in Birmingham, Ala. The Buffs and Lady Buffs had a solid day on the track in what featured mainly preliminary events. Seniors Sharon Kwarula and Baptiste Moreu and junior Lorenzo Johnson would roll to earn berths in the finals which will take place tomorrow.
 
The meet is being held at the Birmingham CrossPlex. Ten Buffs and Lady Buffs have made the trip to compete in 11 events.
 
Starting the competition off for WT was senior Sharon Kwarula in the women's 60m hurdles. Kwarula, an All-American during the 2014 outdoor season in the 400m hurdles, set herself up very nicely in the prelims on Friday. She cruised to break her own school and Lone Star Conference record in the event, running a time of 8.46. That would finish her third overall and second in heat one, advancing her on to Saturday's finals.
 
On the men's side of the 60m hurdles, junior Lorenzo Johnson did not have quite the start he wanted in the prelims but he will still move on to the finals tomorrow with a time of 7.94. Coming in to the championship as the three-seed nationally, he placed sixth overall on the opening day. Also representing WT in the event was senior Arnau Erta, an outdoor All-American hurdler. Erta finished 10^th overall in the prelims with a time of 8.08.
 
Next on the track and wrapping up day one for the Lady Buffs was junior Shanice Cameron who was a late addition to the women's 60m dash field after another athlete scratched on Wednesday morning. Cameron would cross the line with a 7.91 time, finishing 18^th in the country.
 
Senior Baptiste Moreu had an excellent opening race in the men's mile prelims. After a slow first heat, Moreu topped the second heat and the overall pack, finishing first with a time of 4:08.11. He earned the automatic qualifier into tomorrow's finals of nine athletes. Watch the final lap here.
 
In the only final event of the first day, senior Kemarki Absalom would just barely miss the final cut in the men's long jump competition. He leaped to a 10^th place finish off a 7.07m (23'-2.25") jump. That would put him just .01m away from the top-nine which advanced to finals. Then finishing up the day was senior Tommy Curry in the men's 200m prelims. He finished 11^th overall with a time of 21.78.
 
SCHEDULE: Saturday's events will start at 9 a.m. with the women's pentathlon, the first event in the multi being the 60m hurdles. See the schedule below to find out when you can catch all WT athletes in their respective events.
 
Saturday
9:00 a.m. – Pentathlon 60m Hurdles (Libby Strickland)
10:00 a.m. – Pentathlon High Jump (Libby Strickland)
11:45 a.m. – Pentathlon Shot Put (Libby Strickland)
12:45 p.m. – Pentathlon Long Jump (Libby Strickland)
1:30 p.m. – Pentathlon 800m (Libby Strickland)
2:00 p.m. – Women's Shot Put (Holly Cunigan)
3:15 p.m. – Women's 60m Hurdles Finals (Sharon Kwarula)
3:25 p.m. – Men's 60m Hurdles Finals (Lorenzo Johnson)
*4:00 p.m. – Women's Triple Jump (Malika Ouedraogo)
4:25 p.m. – Men's Mile Finals (Baptiste Moreu)
5:15 p.m. – Women's High Jump (Libby Strickland)
 
*-The women's triple jump has been changed to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The original schedule had the event listed at 12:30 p.m., which would have conflicted with those athletes also competing in the pentathlon.
 
THE FACILITY: The indoor 200m hydraulically banked track designed by Mondo is only one of six in the United States and one of eight in the world. Mondo has designed the tracks for the last ten Olympic Games and is the global leader in the sports flooring market. With the touch of a button, the state of the art six lane oval track takes just ten minutes to raise or lower for banked corners. Once raised it becomes one of the fastest indoor tracks in the world.
 
All track and field components meet IAAF, NCAA and NFHS standards. There are eight-60m lanes located within the infield area of the track with dual horizontal runways for pole vault, long jump and triple jump. Additionally, dual high jump approaches can be configured along with dual throwing sectors for shot-put located outside the oval next to the implement/weigh in station. Portable weight throw sector and net meets IAAF and NCAA specifications.
 
Lynx timing and scoring system syncs to a 60'x25' Daktronics LED Board located at the North end of the track. The board is designed to show instant results, team scores, event leaders, video commercials and messages all at the same time. The surround sound speakers provide pristine sound for announcements and video. Elevated seating gives the spectator great views of the track as well as seven VIP suites that overlook the venue.
 
Since opening in 2011, the track has hosted over 100 events and continues to grow with each year. The CrossPlex has hosted a variety of track events that include youth meets, high school state championships, regional and national club level championships, collegiate invitations, college conference championships, NCAA qualifying events and a NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
SCORING: In the championships meet regardless of the number of teams, official team scores shall be kept and recorded as follows: (8 scoring) Individual Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1, Relay Events: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. All-America distinction will be awarded to all individuals and members of relays who place in the top-eight of each event.
 
PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP SOCIAL: The Buffs and Lady Buffs spent Thursday evening at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championship Social which was held at Regions Field Banquet Hall. The area sits on the upper level of Regions Field, home of the Birmingham Barons, a Double-A Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. There the teams interacted, played games, ate dinner and came together for the presentation of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) and NCAA Awards Ceremony.
 
Check out photos from the event on Facebook
 
FOLLOW THE ACTION: Complete recaps and results will beavailable after both days of the National Championship this weekend. Additional information, schedules, heat sheets (when available), live stats, et cetera, can be found by utilizing the links at the top of the page. Portions of the event will be streamed live on NCAA.com. Follow @WTAMUTrackXC on Twitter for additional updates throughout the weekend.