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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Junior Negus Graham ran the second-fastest time in the prelims and shattered the school record with a time of 47.47 seconds in the 400 meters for East Stroudsburg University on the first day of the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

Graham was 11th of the 12 qualifiers in the 400, entering Friday with a time of 48.19, before putting on a remarkable performance to earn a trip to the finals. Graham's time from the first heat held up until Leford Green (Johnson C. Smith) won the heat of the fastest qualifiers in 46.98 seconds. Nine athletes will run for eight All-America spots on Saturday at 4 p.m. local time in Albuquerque. Teammate Chris Reddick set the previous school record of 48.15 two weeks ago at the PSAC Championships.

Seniors Paul Wagner (weight throw), Reddick (200m) and Rusty Smith (60m hurdles) also competed on Friday but did not have as much success.

Wagner fouled on all three of his attempts and was looking for his second career All-America honor after finishing ninth in the weight (indoors) and fifth in the hammer (outdoors) last year. Reddick was seeded second with a time of 21.24 in the 200 but ran 21.74 to finish 11th and missed advancing by six-hundredths of a second. Smith, a two-time All-American, was injured in practice on Thursday and false started in the hurdles.

Graham will be the last of four Warriors to compete on Saturday. Senior Trina Carito will begin a challenging day in the women's pentathlon at 9:15 a.m. local time, junior Lynn Mayer will go after her third career All-America honor in the high jump at 1:45 p.m. and senior Drew Miller will make his third appearance at nationals in the triple jump at 2 p.m.