Four Students in National Table Tennis Contest

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 2, 2010) - The University of Kentucky is sending four students to compete at the 2010 College Table Tennis National Championships held in Waukesha, Wisc. The competition, which will be held April 9-11, will feature more than 250 of the top college players representing over 40 different colleges and universities from around the nation.

Christopher Gillis, Nathan Myers, Jinjun Yang and Timothy Miller will represent the blue and white after they competed at the Association of College Unions (ACUI) regional championships at Knoxville, Tenn., in February 2010.

Gillis, a senior accounting major who has been playing for four years competitively, says the pressure is on to perform well and represent the university at such an intense and competitive environment.

“I’m really happy that we finally qualified for nationals because this is the first time we’ve been in the four years since I’ve been there. I expect to be able to compete with the majority of the players there, and I think our chances are good for a solid showing.”

The four emerged from a field of more than 60 competitors to represent UK during the annual campuswide invitational in late January. Gillis, Myers and Miller have been fixtures on the campus team since competing at the regional competitions in their freshman year, often competing around the nation at other amateur invitationals.

 “I’m really exciting about representing UK, and I think it is going to be an awesome experience. I feel really honored I made it to the tournament. I think the support from the Cats Den and the student center shows they really care about the sport on campus,” said Myers, a junior mechanical engineering major.