But her coach at Michigan made an error in an earlier event and the NCAA penalized Michigan by ruling that Simms could not run in the 400-meter hurdles.

Simms, a 2000 Mililani High graduate, had the second-fastest qualifying time (58.77 seconds) Friday at the NCAA Mideast Regional. Her season-best time of 58.40 seconds was fastest in the nation when she clocked it in March.

But Simms also was scheduled to run on Michigan's 4x100-meter relay team yesterday, two hours before the hurdles. James Henry, the veteran Wolverine women's coach, withdrew his relay team because one of the runners was injured, Simms said.

NCAA rules state that athletes must make a "good faith effort" to compete in events they enter or they are ineligible for their next event. In the case of relays, Simms said, two team members would have to be injured before the team withdrew.

Because only one Wolverine runner was hurt, the other three members of the Michigan relay team were disqualified from their next event — knocking Simms out of the hurdles and probably out of the national championships.

"They take the top five from each of the four regions and the next four best times," Simms said. "Right now I am ranked 25th. I am going to try to find a meet to run next week and go fast enough to qualify, if it's not already too late."