AUSTIN, Texas _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears sent a pair of hurdlers to the NCAA Preliminaries for the first time last week.

    Senior James Lassiter and freshman Marcel Keeton competed Friday at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Round at the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium against some of the premier track and field student-athletes from around the nation.

    Lassiter, from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Penn., and a transfer from Saint Francis University, and Keeton, from Cedar Hill (Texas) High School, are the first UCA hurdlers to advance to the NCAA preliminaries since the university moved to NCAA Division I in 2006-07. The top 48 student-athletes in an event earn a berth in the preliminaries.
     
    Keeton, ranked as the No. 10 freshman in the West, finished 35th in the prelims, running a 14.47. Lassister finished 37th in 14.51.

    Keeton set the UCA school record by running a 14.16 at the SLC Outdoor Championship. That broke a record set by Jeff Shaw way back in 1978 and was the second-best time in the SLC this season. Lassiter tied Shaw's school record, running a 14.2 at the SLC Outdoors.