WALNUT, Calif. - Senior Iuri Pinto placed second in his heat to qualify for the finals in the 1500m run, and sophomore Trina Carito competed in the first four events of the women's heptathlon for East Stroudsburg University at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Mount San Antonio College on Thursday night.

Pinto's time of 3:53.13 was the eighth fastest in the field of 16 runners, with the top four runners in each heat plus the next four best times advancing to the finals on Saturday night. Pinto and Carito are two of a school-record eight ESU athletes who will be competing this weekend.

The Portugal native is making his fourth straight appearance at the NCAA outdoor championship meet, and also competed in the mile at the indoor championships this year. He won PSAC outdoor title in the 1500m as a junior and a senior and captured six conference championships during his career.

Carito is 12th in the heptathlon with 2,528 points going into the final three events - the long jump, javelin throw and 800m run - on Friday.

Carito opened with a time of 15.90 seconds in the 100m hurdles, the same time she clocked to win the event on her way to the PSAC championship earlier this month at IUP. She high jumped 5-1 1/2, threw the shot put 27-7 1/2, and ran the 200m dash in 27.33 seconds.

She placed in the top two in five of the seven events at the PSAC championship meet and scored 4,661 points to earn the final spot in the NCAA championship field.

Carito is the only ESU athlete who will compete on Friday. Seven Warriors - Pinto, Kenny Cardullo (javelin), Kahla Doran (javelin), Matt Gallup (pole vault), Drew Miller (triple jump), and Lynn Mayer and Janelle Smith (high jump) - will all be aiming for All-America honors in the finals of their field events on Saturday.