NC A&T leads a contingent of over 50 HBCU tracksters this week (Wed., May 25 thru Sat., May 28) into the NCAA Div. I Outdoor Track & Field Championships East Preliminary in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Aggies, who competed this year in the Big South Conference, have 25 athletes in the four-day competition taking place at Haugh Track & Field on the campus of Indiana University. They have 12 women and 13 men in the competition.
Athletes who qualified from the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) as well as Hampton from the Big South and Tennessee State from the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) are in the Indianapolis Regional.
The MEAC has 15 athletes in the individual competition, men and women combined, and four relay teams. Howard (all women) and Norfolk State (three women, two men) both have five individuals in the field. The SWAC has ten individual competitors, three women and seven men. Hampton has five athletes competing, three women and two men.
How they got here?
Athletes who rank among the top 48 in their respective event earned a berth into the East Preliminary Rounds. In addition, the best 24 relays times advance to the NCAA preliminaries.
Athletes with the top 12 times/marks and the best 12 relay teams at both the East and West Preliminary Rounds sites will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The championship round is on June 8-11 at Hayward Field.
NC A&T athletes at the top of the heap
On the men’s side, junior quartermiler Randolph Ross Jr. (44.61 seconds), senior 400 meter hurdler Cory Poole (49.42 sec.) and fellow senior long jumper Brandon Hicklin (8.18 meters), all of A&T, enter their competition with the top performances in their events. Tennessee State triple jumper R’Lazon Brumfield also has the best performance in his event (16.65 meters). Brumfield is the only TSU athlete in the field.
On the women’s side, A&T senior 100 meter hurdler Paula Salmon is the only HBCU athlete that comes into the competition with a top three performance. Salmon’s time of 12.63 seconds in the hurdles is second to Alia Armstrong of LSU’s 12.33. Howard junior Jessica Wright has the fifth best time in the 400 meter hurdles (56.32 sec.)
A&T freshman sprinter Grace Nwokocha has the sixth best time in both the 100 meters (11.13) and 200 meters (22.75). Twenty-four (24) athletes will advance from the first round track events. The top three in each heat plus the next six best times move on.
The schedule
The men’s competition will be staged on Wednesday and Friday in Indianapolis with the women taking the fields on Thursday and Saturday.
First round field events for the men (hammer, javelin, long jump, pole vault and shot put) begin on Wednesday at 10 a.m. and are dispersed throughout the day. Men’s first round track events involve six heats per event and begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening. The track events will run approximately every 30 minutes until 9:10 p.m. Opening round field and track events for the women follow the same schedule on Thursday.
Other men’s first round field events (discus, high jump and triple jump) get underway Friday at 1 p.m. The men’s track event quarterfinals start at 5:00 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the women stage their field and track events on the same schedule. The full schedule is here.
The HBCU athletes and the heats they are to compete in on Wednesday or Thursday are listed below.
The East Preliminary free Livestream is here.
MEN
110 METER HURDLES – 6 p.m. Wed.
Heat 1 Prelims
8 582 Jermanie Byrd JR Howard
Heat 2 Prelims
3 329 Tayshaun Chisholm JR DE State
8 1000 Rasheem Brown SR NC A&T
Heat 3 Prelims
3 1009 Cory Poole SR NC A&T
4 1007 Cedric McGriff SR NC A&T
Heat 4 Prelims
6 581 Dylan Beard JR Howard
Heat 5 Prelims
7 1010 Aveon Reid JR NC A&T
100 METERS – 7:00 p.m, Wed.
Heat 1 Prelims
9 1072 Kai Cole JR Norfolk State
Heat 2 Prelims
4 304 Joseph Manu SR Coppin State
Heat 3 Prelims
4 1003 Javonte Harding SO NC A&T
7 133 Kristopher Brown JR B-CU
Heat 4 Prelims
2 1013 Tavarius Wright SR NC A&T
400 METERS – 7:25 p.m., Wed.
Heat 4 Prelims
4 1001 Shemar Chambers SO NC A&T
Heat 5 Prelims
2 1011 Randolph Ross JR NC A&T
6 1004 Reheem Hayles FR NC A&T
800 METERS – 7:50 p.m., Wed.
Heat 3
9 541 Dugion Blackman FR Hampton
400 METER HURDLES – 8:20 p.m., Wed.
Heat 2 Prelims
3 1075 Jordan Williams SR Norfolk State
6 542 Noah Langford SO Hampton
8 1006 Akeem Lindo SR NC A&T
9 1010 Aveon Reid JR NC A&T
Heat 4 Prelims
2 1009 Cory Poole SR NC A&T
Heat 5 Prelims
9 434 Jaylyn Scott SR Florida A&M
200 METERS – 8::45 p.m., Wed.
Heat 1 Prelims
3 1468 DeAnthony Nervis SO Southern
5 68 Matthew Clarke SR AL State
Heat 3 Prelims
3 133 Kristopher Brown JR B-CU
6 1003 Javonte Harding SO NC A&T
7 1008 Brandon Nya SO NC A&T
Heat 6 Prelims
5 304 Joseph Manu SR Coppin State
4×100 METER RELAY – 5:00 p.m., Fri.
Heat 2 Prelims
2 South Carolina St. 1) #1448 Waddell Rembert-Jett JR 2) #1446 Devin Brewington SO 3) #1447 Erick Hill SO 4) #1449 Brenton Shippy SO 5) #1445 Jaden Barker SO 6) #1450 Barrington Walker JR
Heat 3 Prelims)
4 N. Carolina A&T 1) #1013 Tavarius Wright SR 2) #1011 Randolph Ross JR 3) #1012 Daniel Stokes SR 4) #1003 Javonte Harding SO 5) #1002 Malcolm Croom-McFadden SR 6) #1008 Brandon Nya SO 7) #1006 Akeem Lindo SR 8) #1001 Shemar Chambers SO
4×400 METER RELAY – 8:45 p.m., Fri.
Heat 3 Prelims
6 N. Carolina A&T 1) #1011 Randolph Ross JR 2) #1014 Elijah Young SR 3) #1012 Daniel Stokes SR 4) #1006 Akeem Lindo SR 5) #1001 Shemar Chambers SO 6) #1004 Reheem Hayles FR 7) #1009 Cory Poole SR 8) #1010 Aveon Reid JR
HIGH JUMP – 2:30 p.m., Fri.
Flight 1 Prelims
17 1016 Marvin Jones SR NC Central
Flight 2 Prelims
2 81 Zayne Palomino FR Alcorn State
3 132 Guy Bond FR B-CU
8 537 Prince Moss SO Grambling
LONG JUMP – 6 p.m., Wed.
Flight 1 Prelims
6 1015 Jaelyn Blanc SR NC Central
Flight 2 Prelims
12 1074 Joshua Peterson FR Norfolk State
Flight 4 Prelims
2 1005 Brandon HicklinIs SR NC A&T
TRIPLE JUMP – 6 p.m., Fri.
Flight 1 Prelims
2 1073 Isaac Haywood JR Norfolk State
Flight 3 Prelims
10 984 Kobe-Jordan Rhooms SR Morgan State
Flight 4 Prelims
1 1537 R’Lazon Brumfield SR Tenn. State
WOMEN
100 METERS
Heat 1 Prelims
9 574 Jessika Gbai SR Howard
Heat 2 Prelims
7 989 Kamaya Debose-Epps SR NC A&T
Heat 3 Prelims
4 995 Grace Nwokocha FR NC A&T
200 METERS
Heat 1 Prelims
4 574 Jessika Gbai SR Howard
Heat 2 Prelims
2 299 Latifa Ali SO Coppin State
5 997 Jonah Ross SO NC A&T
Heat 4 Prelims
9 989 Kamaya Debose-Epps SR NC A&T
Heat 5 Prelims
4 995 Grace Nwokocha FR NC A&T
400 METERS
Heat 3 Prelims
9 578 Ozioma Scott SR Howard
Heat 4 Prelims
2 1071 Malika Pride SR Norfolk State
Heat 6 Prelims
5 299 Latifa Ali SO Coppin State
6 994 Delecia McDuffie SR NC A&T
8OO METERS
Heat 1 Prelims
6 991 Ayoola Gbolade SR NC A&T
Heat 6 Prelims
8 540 Jordan Mozie FR Hampton
100 METER HURDLES – 6 p.m.
Heat 3 Prelims
2 573 Kaya-Rae Dunbar SO Howard
Heat 4 Prelims
4 988 Breanne Bygrave SR NC A&T
Heat 6 Prelims
2 998 Paula Salmon SR NC A&T
400 METER HURDLES
Heat 2 Prelims
4 538 Amira Aduma SR Hampton
Heat 3 Prelims
5 990 Nia Frederick SO NC A&T
Heat 4 Prelims
2 580 Jessica Wright JR Howard
Heat 5 Prelims
4 539 Dejah Grant SO Hampton
5 67 Kyana Evans SR AL State
4 x 100 METER RELAY
Heat 2 Prelims
3 Howard 1) #574 Jessika Gbai SR, 2) #576 Tiffani Rae Pittman FR 3) #575 Sherri-Ann Norton FR 4) #579 Lamaria Washington FR 5) #577 Ameenah Saalih SR 6) #573 Kaya-Rae Dunbar SO
4 x 400 METER RELAY
Heat 1 Prelims
7 Howard 1) #578 Ozioma Scott SR 2) #580 Jessica Wright JR 3) #577 Ameenah Saalih SR 4) #574 Jessika Gbai SR 5) #576 Tiffani Rae Pittman FR 6)
Heat 2 Prelims
2 Coppin State 1) #300 Kimani Alphonse SO 2) #299 Latifa Ali SO 3) #303 Shenelle Tomlinson JR 4) #298 Salomay Agyei SO 5) #302 Cathryn Lane SR 6) #301 Halutie Hor SO
HIGH JUMP
Flight 2 Prelims
17 999 Kenady Wilson JR NC A&T
20 996 Nazah Reddick SR NC A&T
LONG JUMP
10 538 Amira Aduma SR Hampton
TRIPLE JUMP
Flight 1 Prelims
9 992 Arrieya Harper SO NC A&T
Flight 4 Prelims
5 433 Rachel Robertson SR Florida A&M
SHOT PUT
Flight 1 Prelims
11 624 Hannah White SR Jackson State
Flight 3 Prelims
2 993 Loren James SR NC A&T
DISCUS
Flight 1 Prelims
9 624 Hannah White SR Jackson State