GRAMBLING, La. - It has been another banner year for the Grambling State University Men's Track and Field program., The Tigers have won two conference championships this year and now they are hoping to build on that as they compete in the NCAA Regional meet in Jacksonville, Florida beginning on May 29th.

"We feel that we are ready"., said Head Coach Bertram Lovell., "The biggest challenge is that we have had a long layoff since the SWAC Championship and there is a difference from practice running and competitive running., "We have spent the last couple of weeks training hard and making sure that the guys are physically and mentally ready to compete at a high level."

The Tigers will compete in three events at the meet with a shot at the national championship on the line.  Sophomore Jameal McTear is the current defending Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), Champion in the 200 meters and will compete in the regionals in this event. "MeTear has been pretty steady this year"., said Coach Lovell.  "The great news is that we have him for another two years",

Junior, Kameron Cowan, who has been battling back from injury for last two months, is finally healthy and will compete in the 100 meters. Cowan ran a 10.3,earlier in the season,before going down with an injury.  "We decided not to run Kameron for last two months to make sure that he was completely healthy"., said Coach Lovell.  He was doing much better before the SWAC Championships, but we wanted him to be 100 percent for the regionals."

The lone senior of the group is Riverdale, Georgia native Sylvester Baisden.  Baisden has won two individual conference titles this season,  including the 110 meter hurdles at the SWAC Championships.  He will compete in the 110 hurdles at the regionals. "He has been a great leader"., said Lovell., "He won the the outdoor title at SWAC and we just want him to go out with a bang and get to nationals."

The NCAA Regionals in Jacksonville will begin with the field events on Thursday morning.  The first event for Grambling will be the 100 meters at 6:30 on Thursday, while the 110 meter hurdles and the 200 meters will be on Friday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively.

,