Uzoaru takes a shot at NCAA title

Marisa Uzoaru didn't mean to cut things so close -- not that she's about to complain.

That's because the Central High School graduate, a junior high-jumper at Florida A&M University, has qualified for this week's NCAA Track & Field Championships in Baton Rouge, La.

Entering the final meet of the regular season, May 18 at Georgia Tech, Uzoaru still needed to add height to her season best to make the NCAA field.

And she came through with a career-best 5-10 3/4, which ties her for 10th among the 22 competitors who will participate today.

"Even though I took my time, I'm really happy to be going," Uzoaru said, laughing. "I had qualified provisionally indoors but missed going by a centimeter. It was heartbreaking, so I was really pleased to get in for sure this time."

Uzoaru said the experience she had at a last-chance meet during the indoor season -- when she barely missed qualifying -- helped her at Georgia Tech.

"I felt a lot of pressure, since it was the last meet, but since I had gone through the same thing during the indoor season, I was kind of used to that kind of pressure," she said.

Uzoaru, a 1999 Central graduate, placed sixth in the high jump and eighth in the triple jump at the Class 4A state meet. She chose Florida A&M, in Tallahassee, largely because she was offered a full academic scholarship, and the biology major hasn't regretted her decision.

"I kind of fell in love with the school when I visited," she said. "I've really enjoyed it here."

A previous champion

Uzoaru has won the past two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference indoor high jump titles and this year she captured her first MEAC outdoor championship. She is shooting for a top eight finish at nationals, which would make her an All-American.

"I hope I can break my personal record again and I definitely feel that making All-American is a realistic goal, because sometimes it doesn't matter what you have coming in, it's what you do there," she said. "But no matter how I do, I'll enjoy the experience of going up against the best in the nation, and I know I'll be able to use it to my advantage for next season."

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