Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Track and Field	SIUE Track and Field SIUE Athletics

Kyle Rose SIUE's NCAA Qualifiers This Week *Kyle Rose, 400 meters Jonathan Bannister, 400 meters Marcus Evans, 400-meter hurdles Scott Block, Shot Put 1,600-meter relay *automatic qualifying

April 23, 2007 Kyle Rose to the Occasion         NASHVILLE, TENN. -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Kyle Rose (Kankakee) set a new school record and posted an automatic qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.         Rose ran the 400-meter dash with a time of 46.42 at the Vanderbilt Invitational.         "Kyle really turned it on in the middle 200 meters of his race and was able to finish strong to the line. He is a veteran when it comes to the long sprints, and it showed this weekend," said SIUE men's track and field coach David Astrauskas.         Also along with Nicholas Harold (Urbana), Jonathan Bannister (Plano, Texas) and Littleton, Rose helped the 1,600-meter relay team win with a time of 3:09.41.         SIUE also had three other athletes provisionally qualify for the NCAA outdoor nationals, including Scott Block (Hanover Park) in the shot put.         Block threw for 16.39 meters (53 feet and 9.25 inches).         "Scott competed in a shot put competition that was very deep in talent, and he was able to rise to the occasion. He will probably need a bigger throw to ensure a spot at D II's," said Astrauskas.         Blake Marcum (Centralia) also provisionally qualified in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:52.44.         "Blake's goal was to run provisional this weekend, and he ran a pretty good race. Hopefully, Blake will be able to drop his time in the coming weeks and will get into the national meet," said Astrauskas.         The other Cougar to provisionally qualify was Marcus Evans (Skokie) in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.00.         "Marcus has been a pleasant surprise this year. He has really taken a liking to the 400 hurdles. His times have dropped every weekend this season, and he is really just starting to learn how to run the race," said Astrauskas.         "We had a lot of outstanding performances this weekend against some very tough Division I competition. We finally got that nice combination of great weather and good competition on the same weekend, and our kids really took advantage of the situation. It seemed like every time the loudspeaker came on you heard something about an SIUE performance," said Astrauskas.         The Cougars will compete next at the Drake Relays Thursday though Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. SIUE also is playing host to the Cougar Twilight on Saturday at Korte Stadium.                 -siue cougars-