Dahm, Bratchett Qualify for USA Track and Field Nationals

MILWAUKEE ? Two members of the Marquette track and field teams have qualified for national championship events in the USA Track and Field system, and in doing so, have the opportunity to qualify to compete on U.S. international teams.

Senior Brianna Dahm has qualified for the USA Track and Field Championships in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase and freshman Ray Bratchett earned a spot in the high jump field at the USA Track and Field Junior Championships. Both events will take place on June 23-26 in Carson, Calif.

Dahm qualified based on her mark of 10:10.02 in the preliminaries of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The qualifying mark for the event was 10:13.00, and the meet is open to all collegiate and post-collegiate athletes in the United States.

"Brianna has had such a great five years at Marquette and to be finishing up her career on such a good note after being injured for over a year, certainly speaks volumes about what kind of an athlete she is," head track and field coach Dave Uhrich said. "She could have given up so easily, but she worked even harder while she was injured, running hundreds of hours in the pool so that she would be ready to compete when her injuries healed."

Dahm bettered her time in the final at the NCAA Championships, running a 10:08.79, finishing seventh to earn All-America status for the second time in her career. She has consistently improved her time all season after missing all of last season with an injury.

"When I saw her cross the finish line in seventh place at the NCAA nationals, thus earning her second All-American award, I was more emotional than I have ever been in 18 years of coaching," Uhrich added. "I am completely amazed at what Brianna was able to do this spring, knowing that she didn?t even start running again until February and in the middle of April she was still running one minute slower than her All-American time.

"To qualify for the USA nationals shows that Brianna is not only an outstanding collegiate runner, but one of the best runners in the nation," Uhrich said. "Had she not been injured for most of the past two years, we would have felt very confident that she could qualify for the World Championships team, but under the circumstances, we are just looking to gain some experience at the USA nationals as she begins her post collegiate career."

The top three finishers qualify for the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, to be held August 6-14, 2005, provided they have all run under the world championship qualifying time of 9:50.

Bratchett will also be competing in Carson, Calif., from June 23-26, but will be taking part in the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

He qualified for the high jump with a mark of 2.08 meters in the indoor season. The qualifying mark was 2.06 meters.

"Ray has been a pleasant surprise for us in the high jump this year, especially considering that he was concentrating more on the hurdles in his senior year of high school," Uhrich said. "We knew he was an outstanding athlete when we recruited him and felt confident that he could be a good high jumper, but to have him qualify for the Junior nationals has exceeded our expectations."

While just a freshman, Bratchett will benefit from the experience of competing at a national meet. The junior national championships are open to all athletes who are 20-years-old or younger.

"Ray is an outstanding young man and he works very hard both on the track and in the classroom. It will be a great experience for him to compete against some of the top young high jumpers in the country," Uhrich said. "His workouts have been going very well and we feel he will be very competitive in Los Angeles."

Bratchett enters the competition with the 11th best qualifying mark.

The top two finishers in the junior high jump qualify for the Pan American Junior Championships to be held July 28-31 in Windsor, Ont.
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