GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Four East Carolina men's outdoor track and field athletes and the Pirates' 4x100 relay team met NCAA Region automatic qualifying standards last weekend during the Sea Ray Relays at the Tom Black Track in Knoxville, Tenn.

In addition, ECU's distance medley squad, composed of Matt Dennish, Kristian Jorgenson, Kyle MacKenzie and Domonick Richmond, broke a five-year school record with a time of 9:55.86 to earn a third-place finish.

The Pirates and Lady Pirates also utilized split squads to compete at the Carolina Fast Times meet in Chapel Hill where the two programs combined for six top five finishes and a total of 11 personal-best performances.

In Knoxville, junior Hector Cotto equaled his career-best with a 14.12 clip in the 110-meter hurdles to exceed the qualifying mark of 14.33 while senior sprinter B.J. Henderson stood third in the 400-meter dash and qualified with a 46.58 time. The advancement to regional competition will be the second for Henderson, who earlier surpassed qualifying standards in the 200-meter dash at the Neely Relays April 8-9 (20.84).

East Carolina's 4x100 relay team, which consisted of Henderson, DeAndre Hyman, Thomas Lewis and Reggie Williams, stood fourth in the event with a time of 40.15, besting the NCAA Region mark of 40.66.

Sophomores Terrance Myers and Eric Frasure also qualified after strong performances in the hammer throw. Myers turned in a toss of 55.96 meters to finish sixth while Frasure stood ninth in the invitational portion of the event with a throw of 58.73 – both exceeding the regional minimums of 55.63.

For the women's squad, senior Tara DeBrielle established a new personal-best with a 2:10.08 time in the 800-meter run to finish 13th of 62 entrants while senior Alisha Hopkins narrowly missed a qualification mark by just .04 in the long jump with a leap with 5.91 meters and an eighth-place standing.

Other top finishers for the Lady Pirates include sophomore Lindsey Rosales, who was 12th in the pole vault with a height of 3.65 meters, and senior Johanna Allen, who finished ninth in the 5,000-meter run with a career-best time of 17:24.60.

In Chapel Hill, the ECU women's team used a first-place finish by Aisha Bilal-Mack (400-meter hurdles/1:03.71) and received additional personal-best or top five efforts from Meghan Glassmacher (800/8th/2:25.10), Paige Clark (800/13th/2:28.94), Hayley Flynn (1,500/12th/4:59.46), Caitlin Littlefield (1,500/17th/5:12.01), Megan Walling (3,000/3rd/11:31.31), Nicole Callaham (110 hurdles/3rd/14.86, 400 hurdles/4th/1:05.39), Martha Bright (high jump/4th/1.57 meters), Amy Hart (pole vault/7th/3.50), Jenee Moore (long jump/4th/5.47), Emily Thompson (discus/4th/36.99, javelin/8th/44.41) and Jessica Georgio (javelin/7th/45.27).

Freshman Anthony Leathers headlined the men's efforts at the Carolina Fast Times with a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash (49.42). In addition, freshman Derrick Felton contributed a 57.68 time in the 400-meter hurdles to earn a sixth-place standing while senior Mayso Porch topped ECU's field event performers with a second-place finish in the hammer throw (49.49 meters).

The women's team will compete at the Spec Towns Invitational in Athens, Ga., Saturday while the men's squad will enjoy an off week before participating in the prestigious Penn Relays April 28-30.