Quotes - Saturday Night

Brittany Riley (Southern Illinois) - Hammer Throw
On Breaking the Mideast Regional Meet record
"I feel alright, I could have done better. It feels good to break the record. Everyone likes to break a record

On Heading To Nationals:
"I feel pretty good, I haven't peaked yet so in two weeks I should be able to throw even further and do better in the competition."

Krishna Lee (Missouri) - Hammer Throw
On Making Top Five:
"I felt dialed in and my body was ready to go so it was time. Everything was in the training and staying to course, getting two PR's doesn't happen everyday so it was really exciting. My goal for the meet was 60 meters and I met it. It was great to do well at Missouri and to be able to have my friends and family around."

On Heading to Nationals:
"Training will be the same as it has been, we have to make time work for us. My goal for this meet was met, so I'll set my sights a little bit higher for nationals. I feel confident going the finals and having two events makes it all the more fun."

Auburn Coach Jerry Clayton
On Donald Thomas' Ability After One year:
"He has really been a pleasure to work with, he listens really well. He still needs to work on slowly changing his technique, his approach, his curve and his last steps because he's a little inconsistent with that. Next year I'm going to try to get him to go back two steps because that's where a lot of the top athletes start. I also want to work on his physical aspect because he's new to this type of training.

Donald Thomas (Auburn) - Men's High Jump
On today's competition:
"Today I had a lot of front breeze that kind of threw my run off. I don't feel I was really on point. I'm not used to jumping so early. I woke up around 7. I've never come in so early. Today was a good performance but hopefully for nationals I'll have everything together because today I just wasn't on point. My step was off, my jumping was off and the block was stiff. I'm hoping I get it together in two weeks."

On being "not on point" and still competing for world best this year:
"Today was good but I like to be a leader, not a co-leader. Today I was a co-leader."

On only jumping for a year:
"Most of the time I feel like I'm on point when I jump. I haven't really worked on my form over the bar. Right now I'm just focusing on my approach. I'm trying to iron that out. Sometimes I tend to stretch too much, stutter-step a little. I just want to get a consistent approach right now. Maybe next year for the Olympics I'll work on how I get over the bar. Hopefully everything will be on point at that time.

Richard Thompson (LSU) - Men's 4x100 Relay
On Today's Performance
"I think we had a pretty good race, except for the exchange between myself and Marvin Stevenson. It was pretty close, but we managed to get it through in the end. We just wanted to come in here and move on to the national championship and we were able to take care of that here."

On the team's outlook for nationals:
"We know it's going to be very tough with Florida State and Tennessee. They [Tennessee] dropped their stick today, but we know their going to be there, based on their previous times during the season. Last year they dropped their stick and they were still able to come in second to LSU in the national meet last year. We just hope that we can go there and pull it out, that's our goal."

Bill Hobson (Missouri) - Men's Shot Put
On Qualifying for Nationals
"It feels good. I had a similar thing happen to me last year. That is good thing about the regional system, if you put it all together and have a big throw when it counts; you get to go to nationals."

On Preparation for Nationals:
"I'm just going to continue to train; only now it will be more polish work. I just need to keep focused, prepare and go out there and compete."

John Richardson (Kentucky) - Men's 1500m
On today's performance:
"I felt pretty good about my performance today. It was really a test of nerves. I was warmed up, ready to go and then the storm rolled in. We had the hour and five minute delay and then a false start when the events started back up. It was really a battle of demons. I was my own competition; I was a battling against myself."

On nationals:
"I'm not going in thinking I can't win at national. I'm not going to call myself a favorite but I'm not going to doubt myself."

Jessica Ohanaj (LSU) - Women's 100 Meter Hurdles
On motivation from last year:
"I didn't want to do the same thing I did last year. So I just focused on every hurdle and tried to finish the race."

On today's race:
"I had a good start and I just followed my teammate all the way to the end."

On today's personal record:
"To get the PR and the finish was especially good."

John Yarborough (Ole Miss) - Men's 110m Hurdles
On building towards the win:
"Last year I was third behind my brother and Aries Merritt"
"It was a little bit different last year...everyone went all out in the pre-lims and came back for finals and were dead"

On going into nationals:
"I'm just going out and trying to complete ten good hurdles every time I run"
"I don't look at the competition even though I have really good competition, especially out of this region"

On goals for this season:
"I just wanted to make it to nationals first, and then try to win it of course"

Trendon Holliday (LSU) - Men's 100m Dash
"Coming into this meet I was a little tight so my coach just told me to stay loose and come out relaxed and run my race. I plan on getting back home, training and working hard and dropping it (my time) lower. I have to keep working hard and get better."

On doing better than last year:
"He (my coach) told me to make sure to listen to the bang"

On setting a new meet, regional record and running third fastest in the U.S.:
"It's a good thing but I have to keep working hard"

Gloria Asumnu (Tulane) - Women's 100m Dash
On today's race:
"It went good, it was everything I expected. My start was really good and everything went good."

What will you focus on for nationals?
"I want to focus on perfection. Just getting better, there are a few things I have to work on and fine tune before the next meet."

Quotes - Friday Night

Auburn Junior Cory Martin - Hammer Throw
On Winning and Setting the Regional Record:
"It's always good to win, it feels really good. It's funny because I just took the record from a friend of mine."

On Nationals:
"Everybody wants to win and there are about five guys on the team that have really good shot at it. The competition is going to be very good. I feel good, the training had been going well and I feel confident."

Mizzou Sophomore Tim Cornell - 1500-meter run: Preliminaries
On the Race:
"I felt pretty good today. The pace was a little slow at the beginning we definitely picked it up at the end. It's kind of how I expected it to be, it was a tight race."

On first regional being close to home:
"It's a tremendous honor to tell you the truth. This is most likely the largest track meet that Missouri has ever hosted. To be able to represent my school and hometown in this meet is such a great honor."

Memphis Senior Gail Lee - Women's Shot Put: 1st Place (53-01 ¾)
On her performance today:
"It feels great to win. It wasn't my best performance but it got the job done and I'm headed to Sacramento and I'm excited about that."

On heading to Nationals:
"I'm feeling real good about Nationals. I just want to try hard these next couple weeks and hopefully I will make the finals and we'll see what happens from there."

Krishna Lee, Missouri Sophomore - Women's Shot Put: 2nd place (52-00 ½)
On her performance today:
"I felt great today. We've been training hard the past couple weeks, getting ready. I felt pretty sharp all week. I felt good going in today and feel great coming out. All the hard work pays off in the end. I'm happy, ecstatic."

On heading to Nationals:
"I'm super excited. First time going and I can't wait. I wish we were leaving tomorrow."

Arthur Turland (Senior at Louisville) - Discus: 1st Place
On Winning
"This is really great, I'm super excited and so glad that I made it in! Practice has been good, and this is what I wanted."

On Nationals:
"I'm really excited. this will be my second time there. I made All-American in indoor, and I'm hoping to do the same in the outdoor competition. This would be a good climax to my senior year. I am confident, I just need to throw exactly like it did today and hopefully gain a little bit more distance."

Purdue Senior, Lindsey Blaine Women's Javelin: 1st Place
On Winning:
"It feels great, it feels awesome! I really wanted this. My freshman year I got second, my sophomore year I got fourth, my junior year I got third, so I wanted it real bad."

On Nationals:
"I feel great. I definitely want to be top 8, all American. My ultimate goal is to be top five. I feel very confident right now the way I've been throwing lately."

"I'm ready for nationals, ready to improve that mark." (referring to her season best mark set today)

Alabama senior, Miruna Mataoanu - Women's High Jump 1st Place
On repeating as Regional Champion:
"I am extremely happy and excited to win the high jump at the NCAA Regional for the second consecutive year. I set a goal for myself to win the meet again this year but to set a new school record and personal record is just as exciting."

On Qualifying for Nationals:
"This is a good performance for me heading into the NCAA national championships, I had no doubt I could make it to nationals again this year. Hopefully I can go even higher when I get to Sacramento."

Tone Belt, FR LouisvilleMen's Long Jump: 1st place
On winning:
"It feels good. It was a tough day for everybody. But I'm very excited, hoping I can do better at Nationals; 7.58 (meters) isn't going to get me anywhere."

On his performance today:
"It felt good. I got on the board a couple times, that's been my problem the past couple weeks, was getting on the board. I got on the board even though my marks weren't good my approach was so it was still a good day."

On nationals:
"I feel good, another two weeks off, a break will be good. I just have to bring my "A" game down there and do better than I did here today. But I feel good about it. Hopefully I can do the same as I did at indoors."

Chris Solinsky, SR Wisconsin - Men's 5K: 1st Place
On Winning:
"It feels great. I'm happy tonight just to come out with a win, I finished pretty hard at the end. I was pretty pumped."

On his performance today and looking forward to nationals:
"I felt pretty good. I trained hard throughout this week. I hit a couple hard speed sessions this week so my legs definitely don't have the same pop as what they normally would. But two weeks from now is definitely gonna be what this whole season is for. Everything up until now has been a step in the right direction; a training tool for the rest of the year."