Ten SC State Student-Athletes Compete for Spot in NCAA Track Championships William Hamilton 05/26/10 GREENSBORO, NC – Ten (10) members of the South Carolina State track teams will be among some 1,900 student athletes from 166 colleges and universities trying to earn berths in the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships.  The SC State students and the others, representing schools east of the Mississippi River, are competing Thursday through Saturday (May 27-29) in the NCAA East Preliminary Round, which is serving as a championship meet qualifier, at Irwin Belk Track at Aggie Stadium on the North Carolina A&T campus. The SC State competitors, seven women and three men, are senior Nicole Mobley (4x1MR), senior Jasmine Smith (Triple Jump), sophomore Alexandria Jones (200M, 400M, 4x1 MR), sophomore Monique Gracia (100MH, 4x1MR), freshman Arnetra Frazier (100M, 4x1MR), freshman Erica Peake (4x1MR), sophomore Shamire Rothmiller (Shot Put), senior Levar Knight (Long Jump), sophomore Marcus Stephens (Triple Jump) and senior Aubrey Lemon (100M). Smith in the triple jump, Rothmiller in the shot, Knight in the long jump and the 4x100 meter relay of Mobley, Jones, Gracia and Frazier, with Peake as the alternate, are all Mid-Eastern Athletic champions. For each individual event, except the decathlon, the top 48 declared athletes from the region will seek to finish in the top 12 in order to advance to the June 9-12 national championship at Eugene, Ore. And in the relays, there are 24 teams, with 12 advancing to the national. This format is a change from earlier years when there were four NCAA regions and each region would crown individual and team champions. This year, there are only two host sites – Greensboro and Austin, Texas (UT) -- and there will be no individual or team champions, just qualifiers. Thursday’s first event gets underway 10 a.m. SC State athletes competing on Thursday are Rothmiller at 3 p.m., Knight at 5 p.m., Lemon at 5:30 p.m., Frazier at 6 p.m., and Jones (400M) at 7 p.m.