Sunday, February 26, 2006

Boston, Mass. (February 26, 2006) - Senior James Rainer (Alcoa, Tenn.) ran a 6.76 in the 60 meter dash preliminaries at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships, qualifying for the semifinals in a field that included some of the world's top athletes.

Competing among such world renowned athletes as 2004 Olympic 200m gold medalist Shawn Crawford and 2005 200m world champion Tyson Gay, Rainer was the only collegian to qualify for the semifinals at the nation's premier indoor track event.

Rainer again ran a 6.76 in semifinals, defeating professional track athletes Marcelle Scales (Nike) and former 200m national champion Coby Miller (Nike), but failed to qualify for the finals.

Rainer's performance places him among the nation's best sprinters, and caps off an astounding senior indoor campaign in which he won six races, and claimed two conference championships.