North Carolina Central University

OUTDOOR TRACK

     North Carolina Central University junior sprinter Jason Smoots, a five-time collegiate national champion, is among the fastest men in the country scheduled to compete Friday (June 21) during the 2002 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. 
     A 21-year-old native of Gadsden, Alabama, Smoots will run in the 100-meter dash along with the likes of world record holder Maurice Greene and defending USA outdoor 100m champion Tim Montgomery. Smoots enters the event with the seventh-fastest time, a mark of 10.07 seconds that provided the junior with his fifth NCAA Division II national championship (May 25).
     The first of two qualifying rounds on Friday begins at 5:00 p.m. (PT), with the semifinals scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The finals of the men's 100m dash will be held on Saturday (June 22) at 5:35 p.m.
     ESPN2 will broadcast tape-delayed coverage of the championship meet on Sunday (June 23) from 5:30-7:00 p.m. (ET).
     Smoots is no stranger to this level of competition. On March 2, Smoots placed second in a photo-finish of the men's 60-meter dash at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in New York, NY. Smoots' time of 6.557 was just 0.005 seconds behind the winner Terrence Trammell, a silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics and two-time gold medalist at the USA indoor championships. Two-time U.S. champ Jon Drummond was third with a time of 6.57. 

Last Revised:  June 20, 2002