June 10, 2006

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - On the final jump of his collegiate career, senior Marc Kellman bounded from seventh place to a fifth-place finish in the men's triple jump finals on Saturday at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at A.G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. The jump of 15.97 meters (52 ft. 4.75 in.) and fifth-place finish earns Kellman All-America status for the third time in his career.

The top eight finishers in the triple jump all earn All-America status. Kellman, the national runner-up in the event at the 2006 Indoor Track and Field Championships, was seventh overall heading into his sixth and final jump of the day. He recorded an identical distance of 15.80 meters (51 ft. 10 in.) on his first and fourth jumps of the afternoon, before topping it on his final jump.

Florida State's Rafeeq Curry won the National Championship in the event with a leap of 16.70 meters (54 ft. 9.5 in.). Curry, who entered the championships ranked number one in the nation, recorded the top two jumps of the afternoon, as he also recorded a mark of 16.61 meters on his final jump. Also earning All-America status in the event, along with Curry and Kellman, were Michigan's Michael Whitehead (16.44 meters/53 ft. 11.25 in.), Long Beach State's John Temidara (16.25 meters/53 ft. 3.75 in.), Indiana's Kyle Jenkins (16.19 meters/53 ft. 1.5 in.), Clemson's Jason Bell (15.84 meters/51 ft. 11.75 in.), Long Beach State's Ronald Carter (15.83 meters/51 ft. 11.25 in.) and Illinois' Nick Brown (15.73 meters/51 ft. 7.25 in.).

For the first time since 1982, Saturday's final day of the four-day NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships aired live on network television as CBS aired two-and-a-half hours of live coverage from 3:30 - 6 p.m. ET. Full results from the championships can be found on the official Web site for NCAA Sports at http://www.ncaasports.com.