Freshmen sprinter Zye Boey finished in fifth place with a 10.25 in the 100-meter dash on Saturday at the NCAA Mid East Regional in Louisville, Ky., earning him a spot in the NCAA Outdoor National Championships June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Boey becomes the first athlete in 17 years to represent Eastern at the National Championships in a running event, the last being hurdler Dan Steele in 1992. The last Eastern athlete to qualify in any event was Ron White in the javelin in 2002.

Possibly joining Boey in Fayetteville is the women’s 4-by-100 meter relay team, consisting of Violet Nwordu, Chandra Golden, Tarra Grant and Shawana Smith. The relay finished fifth with a time of 45.55, tying the school record. The four points the squad earned for Eastern’s team score in the meet were the first points ever scored in an NCAA Outdoor Regional by the women’s track program.

In the 4×100, only the top three finishing teams advance automatically to the National Championships. However, the Eastern 4×100 team has been added to a list of potential alternates for the national finals, which gives the Panthers a slight chance of competing in Fayetteville.

The relay team’s four points placed Eastern 33rd overall in the women’s team competition. The men’s team scored five points total, all courtesy of Boey, giving them a 27th place finish.

In addition to his fifth place finish in the 100-meter, Boey finished eighth in the 200-meter dash, the event he competed in earlier this season at the NCAA Indoor National Championships.

Other Eastern competitors included both the men’s and women’s 4-by-400 meter relay teams. The women finished 16th with a time of 3:45.19, while the men finished 15th in 3:09.99, the second-fastest time in school history.

Jeff Jurinek can be reached at 581-7943 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.