The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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March 14, 2010

Courtney falls just short of medaling at NCAA Indoors

SHSU senior sprinter misses out on title by a narrow margin

The Huntsville Item

HUNTSVILLE — Sam Houston State senior Michael Courtney was the first Bearkat to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and he left his mark.

Courtney finished in fourth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 45.96 seconds on Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.

Georgia’s Torrin Lawrence won the national championship in the event, finishing in 45.23, followed by Kirani James (45.63) of Alabama and Florida’s Tony McQuay (45.74).

“He executed the race plan perfectly,” SHSU head coach David Self said. “He was faster today in the finals as he always is. He was in lane six and he knew he had to be faster in first 200 (meters). He finished strong in the final 200.

“He’s an All-American and he proved it today. I couldn’t ask anything more from him. I’m as proud as I can be of him.”

After qualifying for the finals with the second-fastest time in Friday’s preliminaries, Courtney and Self were confident about the senior’s chances.

“After the preliminaries, we started thinking that we may be able to win the thing. We weren’t just happy to be here,” Self said.

While Courtney didn’t win, he walked away with a strong close to his career at Sam Houston State where he was a 10-time Southland Conference champion, winning the 400 dash five times and ran on five first-place relay teams.

“He was running to win, but at the same time, he had a fantastic performance,” Self added.

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