KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Three East Carolina men's track and field athletes and the Pirates' 4x100 relay squad bested NCAA Regional qualification minimums during competition at the Sea Ray Relays held at the Tom Black Track inside LaPorte Stadium on the University of Tennessee campus over the weekend.

Freshman sprinters Kevin Thompson (10.41) and Jerek Hewett (10.42) both earned qualification in the 100-meter dash with personal-record efforts that resulted in fifth and sixth-place finishes, respectively. Junior Terrance Myers also established a career-best effort in the hammer throw at 58.54 to pick up a second-place standing and exceed the post-season qualification mark for the fourth time this season.

In addition, the Pirates' 4x100 relay squad surpassed the NCAA minimum for the second time in 2006, finishing third with a time of 40.22, just .02 shy of the program's season-best.

Other individual top 10 finishes of note include freshman Brandon Small (400 meters/8th/47.29) and junior Eric Frasure, who recorded a discus throw of 50.50 meters to stand eight.

A pair of relay teams experienced action for the first time this year as ECU's 4x200 and distance medley squads picked up a pair of third-place results after producing times of 1:24.06 and 10:00.40.

East Carolina will be back in action next weekend it participates at the Neely/Alumni Relays on the campus of North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro.