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

Breanna Branson

February 5, 2007 SIUE Adds National Provisional Qualifiers         EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville women's track and field team added four new national provisional qualifiers from the Hoosier Relays meet over the weekend.         "Coach Beyers and Coach McAllister are doing a great job training our athletes, and we had some incredible performances on the track this weekend," said women's track and field coach David Astrauskas.         With a weight throw of 15.85 meters, Breanna Branson (Nilwood) qualified provisionally for the NCAA nationals.         "Breanna is a big strong girl who is really starting to develop into a good college thrower. She has been battling a variety of injuries, and I was happy to see her hit a provisional mark," said Astrauskas.         Tairisha Sawyer (Chicago) also provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.32 seconds.         "Tai has fought some injuries this year which had slowed her early in the season. This weekend she had some pretty good performances and I think she will run faster after she is 100 percent," said Astrauskas.         SIUE also had Juliet Alrich (Carpentersville), a freshman, and Angel Royston (Florissant, Mo.) provisionally qualify for the NCAA nationals in the 400 meter dash.         "Juliet is just having an outstanding freshman season; I think she has hit a provisional in every 400 that she has ran this year. Her times are dropping each week, and I am very excited to see just how fast she will run this year," said Astrauskas.         "Angel had a breakout meet this weekend. She came to compete ran well in every race. Angel ran personal bests in the 200 and 400 this weekend and ran very well on the 1,600-meter relay," said Astrauskas.         The 1,600-meter relay team of Sawyer, Deserea Brown (Flossmoor), Alrich and Royston ran a time of 3:47.64, which improved its national qualifying time and placed them fourth among some top Division I competition at the Hoosier Relays.         The Cougars will compete next in the Blue Classic on Saturday in Jacksonville.                 -siue cougars-