BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (May 27) - Demarius Carroll and Jasmine Pleasant took their best shots at qualifying for the NCAA National Track Championship Meet in Iowa next month, but fell just short of their goals.

Carroll, a Tallahassee native (Godby High School) who graduated earlier this month, was plagued with brushing too many hurdles, exhausting his chance to make it to the national meet.  Carroll, ran 14.60 in the 110m hurdles on Friday, which placed him No.38 in the East region.  He needed to finish in the No.24 position or better in order to qualify for the next level.

He did however, have a great season.  Injuries plagued him throughout the season, but he used the opportunities he had coming down the final stretch of the season to make a strong showing in the MEAC tournament and qualify for the NCAA East Regional.

Pleasant, captain of the Lady Rattlers squad, improved over the season and peaked in time for the MEAC meet as well.  She placed in the No.35 spot in the 200m run.  Her time of 24.46 wasn't quite enough to get her in one of the top 24 spots, who advanced to the national championship.

Pleasant, and her teammates had a nice turnaround in the season.  After a meeting with the FAMU 1984 All-American 4x400m team of Mary Jones (Wellens), Vogel Newsome, Pam Porter and Pam Oliver, the team took an obvious new inspiration and new outlook on their performance.  The team went from an 11th place finish in the MEAC Championship last season to fifth place this season.  This was a nice turnaround of the team by head coach Darlene Moore, who expects even more from her team next season.

Leon Hunt, who also graduated earlier this month, was the only Rattler to qualify for the national meet in Des Moines, Iowa in June.  Coach Wayne Angel will now focus his attention on preparing Hunt for the nationals, and finding the recruits to strengthen and build the Rattlers team to the level he feels they should attain.