BLOOMINGTON, Ind.  – With one Wildcat advancing to the semifinals on the first day, the Bethune-Cookman returned to competition looking to score even higher in the NCAA East Regional Track & Field Championships. On the final day, that plan came to fruition, as junior Kemar Clarke qualified for the NCAA National Championships.

On Friday, day two, the Wildcats had two events in competition, including the semifinals for Stephon Pamilton in the 400m dash. In the semis, Pamilton improved his time by over a half a second from the prelims, but wrapped up the quarter mile in 21^st place overall in the semis.

Later in Friday's competition, Kemar Clarke got started in his path success with a qualification for the 110m hurdle semifinal with a time of 14.16 in the preliminary.

As the Wildcats' opening performance on Saturday's East Regional Final Day, Clarke did not disappoint, slicing .31 off his prelim time to finish ninth in the 110m hurdle semifinal at 13.85 and move on to the NCAA National Track & Field Championships early next month.

“Kemar Clarke overcome many obstacles to reach this point,” said Head Coach Donald Cooper after the race. “This is what we discussed when recruiting him here. He had to sit home in the fall and had to get a lot in this spring. He proved to be everything that I thought he was; it just took some time for him to adjust. He loves B-CU and we are extremely glad to have him here. We still have a lot of work to do so we both are very excited.”

In Saturday's final, the Wildcats 4 x 400m relay team (composed of Martin Embry, and Robert Horton) wrapped up competition for B-CU and closed out the final heat of the NCAA East Regional. An errant bump in the third exchange zone knocked the 'Cats off balance and out of it, as the team went on to finish 23rd in the semifinal with a time of 3:14.30.

With the Regional event wrapped, Clarke continues his quest for glory at the NCAA National Track & Field Championships, held June 8-11 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

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