Championships, after turning in a personal best performance at the Iowa State Invitational Track Meet over the weekend.

Couper clocked two minutes, 8.35 seconds in the women's 800 metres, placing third overall, and getting foot in the door for the premier indoor college event next month. Svetlon Badrankova of the University of Texas-El Paso won the race in 2:07.93, followed by Indiana State University's Angie Bruecker (2:08.28).

The Bermudian middle distance runner can yet earn an outright berth if she is able to go under 2:07, and will have opportunities to do so at meets in Nevada, California and Iowa during the coming weeks.

Couper was part of a near record setting 1600 metres Stanford relay team that was timed in 3:47.98 and placed eighth, with Couper going under 57 seconds for her leg. The group missed the school record of 3:46.81, largely due to poor transitions.

Also competing at the Iowa meet was another Bermudian, Devon Bean, who just missed qualifying for the 60 metres final, and placed eighth in the long jump.

Bean clocked 6.95 in his heat, but at 18th -- out of a total of 73 sprinters -- was two places short of going through to the final. Training partners Aaron Egbele and Taiwo Ajibade of University of Texas-El Paso were first and second in the final with clockings of 6.65 and 6.73 respectively.

The 25-year-old local leapt 7.24 metres (23 feet, 9 inches) in the long jump to trail Mesut Yovis (25 feet, 9.5 inches) of Arkansas University, who won the event.

Ashley Couper: clocked 800 metres best.