Hampton University Athletics

Sacramento, Calif. – With her final jump of the afternoon, Hampton University's Yvette Lewis went from fourth place to a national champion in the triple jump at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento. Lewis, who a day earlier earned all-american honors in the 100-meter hurdles, jumped 45-00.50 to overtake Stanford's Erica McLain (44-10.25) for first place.

"Heading into my final jump all I could think about was not finishing fourth like I did last year," said Lewis. "I hadn't won since the 2006 indoor championships so I just tried to put everything together on my final attempt and things worked out."

In what has become a great rivalry with McLain, Lewis was able to rebound from her second place finish at the indoor championships when the Stanford junior won the event and ended Lewis' hopes of defending her 2006 national indoor triple jump title. With her victory on Saturday Lewis becomes Hampton's first two-time national champion in track & field and the university's only six-time all-american (4 - triple jump, 1 – 100-meter hurdles, 1-long jump).

Up next for Lewis is the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships which begin on June 20 in Indianapolis, where she'll compete in the triple jump and the 100-meter hurdles. Last year she placed third in the triple jump, while reaching the semifinals of the hurdles where she was .10 of a second shy of advancing to the finals. This year she hopes to improve upon those performances and qualify for the World Championships.

On the men's side Andrew Peresta battled his way to a sixth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.85 to give the Pirates an all-american in the event for the second consecutive year after Terry Thornton garnered the honor in 2006.