Delaware State’s Leslie Murray reached the final in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2009 NCAA National Outdoor Championships.

Murray, a freshman, was second in his heat and fourth among the nine finalists with a school-record time of 49.83 seconds in the semi-finals at the University of Arkansas Thursday evening.

Jeshua Anderson of Washington State posted the top qualifying time of 49.27 seconds. Murray, the 2009 MEAC 400m hurdle Outdoor Champion, will compete with eight others for the NCAA championship on Friday evening. The top eight finishers are recognized as All-America.

Delaware State sophomore Donte Holmes fell short in his bid to reach the final in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships. Holmes was 11th in the semi-finals with a time of 1:47.61 this evening. The top nine qualifiers advanced to Saturday’s championship race. Holmes, the 2009 MEAC 800m Outdoor Champion, has reached the NCAA nationals in each of the last two years.

The Hornets were also edged out of the finals in the 1600-meter relay at the NCAA Championships this evening. The DSU team of Murray, Holmes, Burton Clarke and Larrone were 10th in the preliminaries with a school-record time of 3:05.21, just behind final qualifier LSU, which posted a time of 3:05.09.