The University of Delaware women’s outdoor track & field squad opened competition at the NCAA East Regionals on Thursday evening with sophomore Tyra Reid placing 44th overall in the 400 meter dash.

Reid is one of two Blue Hens who have qualified for the regional meet, which includes the top NCAA Division I performers in the eastern part of the United States. The meet is being hosted by the University of North Florida at Hodges Stadium this weekend.

A native of Dover (Caesar Rodney High), Reid ran to a time of 55.05 on Thursday night to place eighth in her heat and 44th overall from among 48 competitors. Her time was not good enough to qualify for Friday’s quarterfinals, which will include the top 24 finishers from Thursday.

Reid’s time of 55.05 was below her qualifying time of 53.79, which set a school record earlier this spring. The top time was put in by senior Robin Reynolds of Florida who won her heat with a time of 51.85. Shakima Wimbley of Miami placed second with a time or 52.11.

Reid was Delaware’s lone Colonial Athletic Association individual champion back on May 7 when she captured the 400 meters title with a school-record time of 53.79 while also placing third in the 4 x 100 meter relay and fourth in the 4 x 400 meter relay.

She earned All-East honors in two events at the ECAC Championships at Princeton on May 14-15 as she placed third in the 400 meters (54.53) and ran a leg of the eighth place 4 x 100 meter relay team (47.43). Earlier this season she placed second in the 400 meters at the prestigious Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State and captured the 400 meter title at the Delaware Classic.

Delaware sophomore Sarah Hillman (Polytech) will get her chance to perform on Friday when she takes part in the discus throw competition beginning at 12 noon.

Hillman, the UD record-holder in the discus with a toss of 162-feet, 8-inches earlier this season, is coming off an impressive showing at the ECAC meet when she earned All-East honors by placing second in the discus (156-8) and third in the shot put (45-9).

Baseball

St, Mark’s 12, Cape Henlopen 6: The Spartans capitalized on four errors to knock out the defending state runner-ups in the quarterfinals.

St. Mark’s, the top overall seed, advanced to face Dover Saturday at 7 p.m. at Frawley Stadium.

Middletown 8, Sussex Tech 2: The Cavaliers held the Ravens scoreless until the final inning in the quarterfinal victory.

Cole Collins recorded a pair of hits and scored a run for Sussex Tech.