NCAA Championships Info
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Six field athletes from around the American Athletic Conference punched tickets to the Austin, Texas, for the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with top-12 finishes at the opening day of the NCAA East and West Preliminary meets Thursday.
The regional action continues Friday through Saturday. The University of North Florida in Jacksonville is hosting the East Preliminary and California State University at Sacramento is hosting the West Preliminary. NCAA track and field fans can watch live and on-demand coverage of the NCAA Division I East and West Preliminary Championships on FloTrack with a Pro subscription.
Seven field events were completed in regional action on Thursday. The top 12 individuals and top 12 relays in each event advance to the 2019 NCAA Championships held June 5-8 in Austin, Texas, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Memphis earned a trio of bids to the women’s national championship with Tanalya Gordon, Mona Jaidi and Ashley Pryke all advancing out of the East prelims. Pryke and Jaidi both advanced in the javelin throw, making Memphis the only program in the NCAA East prelims that had two javelin performers punch tickets to the national championship. Pryke finished fourth in the field with a 170-6 (51.96m) toss on her first attempt, sending her to a third-straight NCAA Championship. Jaidi’s second throw of 163-10 (49.95m) put her in 11th place. Freshman Tanalya Gordon finished seventh in the long jump to earn a spot in the national field with her distance of 20-1.5 (6.13m).
Also earning a bid to the NCAA Championship from the East region was Cincinnati thrower Annette Echikunwoke. Echikunwoke finished sixth in the hammer throw to advance back to the NCAA finals as she recorded a best mark of 62.87m (206-03) on her first throw of the day. Echikunwoke will have another shot at a national title after winning the 2017 indoor weight throw.
A pair of Houston long jumpers advanced out of the West prelims in Sacramento with Trumaine Jefferson and Samiyah Samuels each qualifying for the final field in Austin. Jefferson registered a season-best leap of 25-6.75 (7.79) on his second attempt in the men’s field, finishing third place overall. This marks the second-straight season that Jefferson will advance to the NCAA Championships. Samuels joined him in punching her second-straight-ticket to the national championships in the horizontal jumps. With a season-best leap of 20-7.75 (6.29) on her third attempt, Samuels clinched a fourth-place finish in the event.
Additionally, 19 track athletes from around The American advanced out of Thursday’s preliminary round for a chance to qualify for the national championship in Friday’s finals races. Houston led the way with 11 track athletes advancing to Friday’s finals out of the West region prelim, including six in the 100-meter dash. Amere Lattin cruised to a first-place finish in his heat to automatically qualify for the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles.