HOUSTON, Texas -- Sophomore Eric Frasure established a new Conference USA Indoor Championships record and broke his own school mark with a toss of 20.66 meters in the weight throw to highlight East Carolina's participation in the first day of the C-USA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse.

The Pirates closed out the initial day of competition in fourth place, trailing Houston's first-place mark of 45 by 19 points and second-place TCU's total of 28 by just two heading into Saturday's events. The ECU women's squad stands tied for ninth with 14 points, trailing leader Houston by 22.

Frasure's throw also met the provisional qualification mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships and surpassed his previous record of 19.22 set at the Virginia Tech Challenge Feb. 11. Teammate Mayso Porch finished third in the event with a career-best toss of 17.51.

In the only other men's final Friday, Craig Schmidt earned a sixth-place finish in the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:18.28.

The remainder of the running events were preliminary competitions for qualification into Saturday's finals. ECU freshman standout LaShawn Merritt competed in the 400- and 200-meter dashes and finished first in both races with NCAA provisional qualification times of 47.57 and 21.22, respectively. Senior B.J. Henderson also qualified for the finals in the 400 (48.99) and 200 (21.44) while junior DeAndre Hyman advanced in the 200 after turning in a clip of 21.96.

Other Pirate athletes who earned qualification into the finals after strong preliminary performances Friday were Kyle Yunaska (800 meters/1:59.02), Thomas Lewis (60 meters/career-best 6.83) and Henry Cotto (60-meter hurdles/7.93).

Lindsey Rosales and Alisha Hopkins guided the Lady Pirates to a pair of fourth-place finishes in the field events Friday afternoon. Rosales reached 3.65 meters in the pole vault while Hopkins turned in a career-long leap of 5.88 in the long jump.

In the preliminary running events, senior Tara DeBrielle continued her strong season with a first-place standing in the 800-meter event, finishing in 2:13.21 to earn a place in the finals. Freshman Portia Baker also qualified for the championship round after turning in a career-best 56.87 time in the 800 meters while senior Terri Davenport advanced after running a personal-best 24.77 in the 200-meter dash.

The C-USA Indoor Championships will conclude Saturday with the running event finals and the men and women's 4x400 relay competitions, followed by the presentation of awards at 6:00 p.m. (EST).

2005 C-USA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM STANDINGS
MEN
1. Houston, 45
2. TCU, 28
3. Marquette, 27
4. EAST CAROLINA, 26
4. Charlotte, 26
6. Memphis, 2
7. Southern Miss, 11
7. DePaul, 11

WOMEN
1. Houston, 36
2. South Florida, 30
3. Cincinnati, 24
4. UAB, 22
5. Charlotte 18
5. Louisville, 18
7. Marquette, 16
8. Tulane 15
9. Southern Miss, 14
9. EAST CAROLINA, 14
11. Memphis, 11
12. DePaul, 10
13. TCU, 6