BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Three Noles punched their tickets to Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Outdoor Championships Wednesday at the NCAA East Preliminary in Bloomington, Ind.
“We had a really good start to the week. This meet is all about surviving and advancing, and we had a lot of guys move onto their respective quarterfinal races on Friday, and obviously had three guys who secured their spot in Oregon,” Head Coach Bob Braman said.
Jeremiah Davis and Isaac Grimes were the first duo to punch their tickets with solid performances in the long jump. Davis had a mark of 7.75 meters (m) while Grimes posted 7.71m to finish sixth and seventh respectively.
Adriaan Wildschutt ended the night with another great performance in the 10,000m run. Wildschutt finished second in the event with a time of 28:28.86 to punch his ticket to Eugene.
The Noles had three entries in the 100m dash and all three of them are moving onto Friday’s quarterfinal race. Jo’Vaughn Martin ran a season-best 10.05 to finish third among qualifiers while Don’dre Swint ran a personal best 10.14 to finish eighth. Taylor Banks also ran a personal best 10.17 to finish 14th.
In the men’s 400m dash, Sean Watkins Jr. (46.18) and DaeQwan Butler (46.84) each advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal race.
James Rivera ran a gritty race in the rain in the 400m hurdles to qualify for the quarterfinal race. Rivera clocked a time of 51.50 to finish second in his heat.
The schedule for the women for Thursday has been altered. Running events will begin at 2 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. Field events will conclude at 5:45 p.m. with the shot put while running events will end at 5:10 p.m. with the 10,000m run. Megan Cook will get things started at 10 a.m. in the hammer throw.
