Nine Southland Athletes Still Alive Following Day One of NCAA Outdoor Championships
FRISCO, Texas ? The Southland Conference saw four of its 20 student-athletes earn bids to an event final on Wednesday with five more scheduled to open competition Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
In the men’s championship, four of Sam Houston State’s five national qualifiers were in action, including two in the men’s 400. Competing in separate preliminary heats, sophomore Darryl Hayes earned an automatic qualifier into one of the two semifinal heats, which are set to begin at 7:25 p.m. on Friday ? while senior teammate Michael Courtney finished a mere 0.03 seconds shy of the second round. Hayes punched his semifinal ticket when he crossed the tape of the opening heat in third place ? the top-three finishes in each of the five heats qualified for the semifinals ? with a time of 46.43. Needing to either finish among the top-three in his heat or among the top-three non-qualifiers of all five heats, Courtney came in fifth place in the third heat with a time of 46.54, which was fractions of a second slower than Charlotte sophomore Darius Law, who claimed the 18th and final spot in the semifinals.
Senior Lane Dennis became the Bearkats’ second athlete to qualify for a semifinal heat when he did so in the 400 hurdles. He enters Thursday’s second round, which begins at 7 p.m., as the No. 13 seed with a qualifying time of 50.71. Also competing Wednesday for Sam Houston State was junior Chris Cralle in the men’s hammer throw. He placed ninth in his flight and 15th overall to finish three spots out of a possible berth in the final.
With entrants in three different events on Wednesday, UT Arlington failed to qualify any of the trio into their respective event finals. Sophomore Cordero Gray, however, came the closest. In the opening round, Gray automatically punched his ticket to the semifinal later that evening with a third-place finish of 10.28 in the fourth heat. Seeded 10th heading into the second round, Gray needed to finish fourth or better in his heat or run the top time among non-automatic qualifiers to reach the final. Gray finished sixth in his heat to finish 10th overall and just 0.03 seconds from a bid into Friday’s final. Gray’s pursuit of a national title continues at 6:25 p.m. on Thursday when he begins competition in the 200.
The Mavericks’ 400 relay team of junior Jarid Vaughan, seniors Takeshi Fujiwara and Byron Majors and Gray placed 15th overall with a time of 39.85, which was less than half a second slower than ninth-place qualifier TCU. In the high jump, freshman Andrew Duncan III was unable to clear the opening height of 6-8.75 (2.05m).
Northwestern State’s only representative in Fayetteville assured himself of a spot in the men’s javelin final. Senior Cody Fillinich placed fifth in his flight and 11th overall in his bid to rank among the top-12 and ties, which was required for qualification into Friday’s 7 p.m. final. The Demons’ best heave of 218-09 (66.67m) came on his opening attempt and was exactly one inch better than the Boise State’s Pontus Thomee, who finished in 12th place. Southern California’s Corey White tallied the best throw of the event at 254-10 (77.68m).
Kemuel Morales kept Texas State’s hope of scoring in the men’s championship alive when he qualified for the final of the men’s shot put with the eighth-best mark of the preliminary. The senior sandwiched a throw of 60-6.75 (18.46m) between a solid opening throw and a foul on his third attempt to finish third in his flight. Morales’ top mark is just more than eight feet behind the top throw of the preliminary round. The final is set to begin Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
Southeastern Louisiana’s Cory Roberts finds himself in 20th position following the opening five events of the men’s decathlon. The junior now has five events remaining ? the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 ? and he hopes to begin his climb back up the leaderboard at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. On Wednesday, Roberts scored his first 847 points of the competition with a 13th-place time of 11.06 in the 100. He then fared well in the long jump, placing just 17th but tallying a solid 762 points, before coming in 22nd place in the shot put and high jump. Roberts rallied back in Wednesday’s finale and ran to a Day One-best ninth-place finish in the 400.
The Southland Conference will also see another four student-athletes kick-off their national title bids when competition resumes on Thursday. Sam Houston State senior Jon Tipton, Southeastern Louisiana junior Adonson Shallow and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior Hickel Woolery will take part in the men’s discus preliminary, where the Top-12 and ties earn the right to compete in the event final at noon on Saturday. Also competing Thursday is Lamar junior Samuel Kosgei. The Cardinals’ distance star will take part in the 10,000 final at 9:45 p.m.
In the women’s championship, the conference saw three of its four student-athletes miss out on a chance to qualify for an event final. That leaves UT Arlington junior Jasmine Walls as the only remaining competitor in Fayetteville. The Mavericks’ sprinter, who qualified for the women’s 200 via an at large bid, is set to begin her bid for a national title when she races in the event’s fifth and final heat at 6:10 p.m. today.
Junior Leslie Bourgeois became the first Nicholls student-athlete to compete in the national meet when she opened the women’s javelin competition with a throw of 127-01 (38.73m). Despite the rough start, the Colonels’ record-setter and two-time Southland champion tallied her best mark of preliminary round with her second throw. Bourgeois threw the javelin 143-01 (43.61m) for 22nd place in that attempt, but it was not enough to push her into Friday’s final round.
Neither of the Southland Conference’s entrants into the women’s high jump advanced past Wednesday’s preliminary. Sam Houston State sophomore Dess Meek had her bid to qualify for the finals derailed during warm-ups when she sustained an injury that forced her to withdraw from the competition. That left Texas State’s Katherine Evans as the league’s lone participant, but she was unable to clear the opening height of 5-07 (1.70m) in any of her three attempts.
For the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held in Fayetteville, Ark., there will be the ability to watch on the Internet as well on CBS College Sports Network as well as CBS. There will be three hours of live television coverage on CBS College Sports Network on Friday and two hours of live coverage on CBS on Saturday. The entire rest of the meet will feature FREE live online video streaming. Below is the breakdown of coverage of the meet, complete with video links.
Thursday, June 11
- Video starting at 9:30 a.m. CT
o Watch
Friday, June 12
- CBS College Sports Network coverage from 6-9 p.m. CT (no Internet video during this time)
- Video starting at 10 a.m. CT
o Watch
Saturday, June 13
- CBS coverage from Noon-2 p.m. CT (no Internet video during this time)
- Video starting at 9 a.m. CT
o Watch