GAINESVILLE, Fla. - East Carolina men's track athletes posted a total of 13 new personal records while the Pirates' 4x100 relay squad and a pair of throwers earned NCAA Regional qualification during action at the Diet Pepsi Classic inside James G. Pressly Stadium over the weekend.

ECU's 4x100 unit, consisting of freshman Jerek Hewett, senior DeAndre Hyman, freshman David Rucker and senior Reggie Williams Jr., bested the NCAA Regional qualification mark of 40.66 with a third-place finish of 40.20. In addition, junior Eric Frasure (second-place) and junior Terrance Myers (sixth) each earned post-season qualification in the hammer throw with efforts of 60.17 and 57.97 meters, respectively.

Frasure also added a qualifying mark in the discus with a school-record toss of 51.81 meters to finish sixth in the event after standing eighth in the shot put (15.44).

Pirate runners tallied 12 of the 13 career-bests with seven coming in the sprint events. Freshman Kevin Thompson (10.66/ninth), Williams (10.69/12th) and Rucker (10.76/16th) all contributed new marks in the 100-meter dash while Thompson (21.78/11th) and Rucker (22.26/19th) also added personal-records in the 200 meters.

Freshman Brandon Small came just .06 away from NCAA qualification after booking a career all-time best clip of 47.32 to stand fourth in the 400-meter dash while senior Bryson Bowling picked up a 15th-place finish with a time of 48.77.

ECU had three athletes post new personal-bests in the 800-meter run as freshman Jarrett Newby (1:53.07/seventh), freshman Aaron Mabry (1:55.63/10th) and sophomore Jason Diehl (1:57.41/14th) all contributed top 15 standings. In addition, freshman William Collins (PR of 3:58.26) and sophomore Matthew Dennish (3:59.46) tallied fourth and sixth-place finishes in the 1,500-meter run.

Other performances of note include a ninth-place result by senior Hector Cotto in the 110-meter hurdles (14.36), a seventh-place standing by freshman Christopher Belfiore in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (career-best 10:03.83) and a seventh-place effort by freshman Melvin Chestnut in the long jump (6.49).

The Pirates will be back in action next weekend with split-squad participation at the Clemson Invitational and Texas Relays.