| Ryanne Dupree will become just the second UTSA woman to compete at the Olympic Trials this weekend. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Former UTSA All-American Ryanne Dupree will compete in the women’s heptathlon at the United States Olympic Team Trials to be held June 27-July 6 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The heptathlon kicks off the 11-day (two rest days) meet with the 100-meter hurdles at 3 p.m. Central time on Friday, June 27, followed by the high jump at 3:55, the shot put at 6:30 and the 200m at 8 p.m. Day two gets underway with the long jump at 4 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the javelin at 5:20 and the 800m at 7:24 p.m. Some heptathlon events may be seen during two windows of television coverage, on USA Network at 11 p.m.-midnight Central time on Friday or on NBC at 7-8 p.m. on Saturday. For complete meet information and results, please click here.
Dupree enters the meet with the ninth-best point total in the 28-person heptathlon field, a personal-best 5,818 posted at the 2007 Texas Relays in Austin. Former NCAA Champion Jacquelyn Johnson, an Arizona State alum, boasts the top mark of 6,276, while four other athletes also have met the Olympics “A” standard of 6,000 points. Defending champion Sheila Burrell, who is not competing this year, won the heptathlon at the 2004 Trials with 6,194 points. The top three finishers, provided they have met the “A” standard, will represent the U.S. at the Summer Olympic Games on August 15-16 in Beijing, China.
A San Antonio native and East Central High School product, Dupree was a four-time All-American, eight-time Southland Conference champion and three-time SLC Athlete of the Year during her illustrious UTSA career from 2003-07. She holds four school records and nine total conference marks (seven in combined events) and was the 2007 SLC Outdoor Athlete of the Year, High Point Scorer (39.5) and Outstanding Field Performer. Dupree finished fourth in the pentathlon at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships, which marks the second-best individual finish by a female in school history, and capped her UTSA career with a sixth-place effort in the heptathlon at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor.
Dupree is the first UTSA female to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials since Tameka Roberts in 1996, as she was the only athlete to compete in three different events that year in Atlanta, Ga. Former distance standout Liza Hunter-Galvan is the only UTSA female track & field athlete to compete in the Olympics, doing so for her native New Zealand in the 2004 Summer Games marathon in Athens, Greece. Hunter-Galvan has qualified again for the 2008 Olympics in the marathon.