BRADENTON, Fla. – Coker College women's track and field member Darroneshia Lott earned First Team All-American honors and qualified for the 800-meter finals tomorrow (May 27) evening at 6:55 p.m. Lott ran a personal best time of 2:07.90 to finish fourth in her heat.

The top two finishers in each of the three heats advanced to the final, plus the next two best times in the field. Lott's time advanced her to the finals and was the fifth fastest time of all the 800-meter participants.

Coker track and field's first All-American tripped herself up throughout the race, but finished strong to advance to tomorrow's competition. "I honestly think how I positioned myself in the beginning of the race is what caused me to keep getting tripped up," said Lott. "When running any distance race, the key is to get ahead to avoid the chaos of being tripped or elbowed. Although I was unable to make up for that error from the beginning, I'm thankful the heat was a fast one, which caused me to have a good time to be able to advance to the finals."

Lott did enough to advance to the final race tomorrow evening. However, she isn't satisfied just yet and is looking forward to the challenge that her final race of the season brings. "My mindset tomorrow is to remember the fight," stated Lott. "I haven't had the opportunity to really fight this entire season other than nationals and I refuse to let up at the final stomping ground. Not only am I fighting for myself, but I'm doing it for my team as well. I want other schools to know who Coker College track & field is by the end of tomorrow's finals."

Although Lott is focused in on tomorrow's finals, she did have some time after today's race to reflect on what she accomplished when she said, "It is truly an honor to be the first to pave the way for Coker College track & field."

As mentioned, tomorrow's 800-meter finals will begin at 6:55 p.m. at IMG Academy. Live results and live video can be found at www.cokercobras.com.