BEIJING — The Lady Lion duo of Erica Bartolina and Christine Amertil had mixed results on the first night of track and field competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics as Amertil finished second in her 400-meter dash qualifying heat, but Bartolina could not clear 4.30m and recorded no mark in the qualifying rounds of the women’s pole vault.

Amertil, who raced for Southeastern from 1998 to 2001 and still owns six school records, turned in a time of 51.25 seconds in the first round of the 400 compeition. The Nassau, Bahamas native finished just 0.25 seconds behind Jamiaca’s Rosemarie Whyte to claim second place in heat one, advancing to the semifinals and keeping her medal hopes alive.

Amertil, in her third career Olympics for the Bahamas, previously represented her country in the homeland at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Summer Games. Amertil turned in a sixth-place time of 50.37 in her last Olympic outing after recording a fifth-place time of 53.12 in Sydney in 2000.

The 29-year old owns a career-best time of 50.09 in the 400 m and remains in contention for her first career trip to the Olympic medal stand. Amertil will return to action in the 400 m semifinals on Sunday at 9:15 p.m. in Beijing (Sunday, 8:15 a.m., CDT) before the finals on Tuesday at 10:10 p.m. in Beijing (Tuesday, 9:10 a.m., CDT).

Bartolina, who earned her first career Olympic trip after a personal best jump of 14-11 gave the Lady Lion assistant a third-place finish at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials was not so fortunate. The 28-year old pole vaulter passed on the opening heights in an attempt to limit her number of jumps. Unfortunately, Bartolina could not clear 14-1 (4.30 m) in any of her three attempts and will not advance to Monday’s finals, eliminating her from medal contention.