GREENVILLE, N.C. -- The East Carolina men's and women's track and field teams are headed to Louisville, Ky., for the 2004 Conference USA Outdoor Championships, which will be held May 13-15 at Cardinal Park Stadium on the campus of University of Louisville.

The Lady Pirates, coached by Matt Munson, look to improve on last years performance when they finished 11th of 13 teams. This year's squad welcomed the return of 2002 C-USA High Jump champion Colleen McGinn, who received a redshirt last season while completing student teaching requirements for her academic degree. The Jacksonville, N.C., native recorded a mark of 5-8 (1.73m) in the high jump twice this season, which is tied for the fourth-best performance in C-USA action this season.

Fellow senior, Tara DeBrielle comes into tournament action with the top seed in the 800-meter run. Her time of 2:10.61, which was set at the Raleigh Relays, is one full second better than Marquette's Jamie Haro, who is seeded second.

In the pole vault, junior Tammie Mentzel leads four Pirates into action with the third seed. Her mark of 12-3 3/4 (3.75m), recorded at the Carolina May Classic last weekend, is second best in C-USA action. Lindsey Rosales is seeded seventh, while Kinsey Batts and Nicole Marchewka are 11th and 13th respectively.

On the men's side, junior Ronnie Pollard who was named C-USA Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, will look to improve on his fourth place finish in the 400 meter hurdles from a year ago. The Hendersonville, N.C. native is seeded second with a time of 51.70, which he posted at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn.

Darrus Cofield leads four Pirates in the 400 meter dash with a time of 46.99 and a fifth place seed. Domonick Richmond is the 12th seed with a time of 48.18 and looks to better his performance from last year, when he finished third in the Outdoor Championships. B.J. Henderson (47.45) and Thomas Lewis (48.35) will also compete in the 400 as the seventh and 14th seed.

In the 4x100 meter relay, the team of B.J. Henderson and Darrus Cofield welcome junior Marvin Townes and freshman Robert Tillman to the team. Both Townes and Tillman join the squad after completing spring football workouts for the gridiron Pirates. Last year, the 4x100 relay posted a third place finish at the Outdoor Championships with a time of 40.43 seconds.

Pirate faithfuls can get live results during competition by logging on to www.ECUpirates.com.