ASU track & field beat feet to NCAA East Preliminaries
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (bamastatesports.com) – Some of the nationally ranked track and field Hornets have journeyed to Jacksonville, Fla. to perform in one of the highly esteemed platforms in the NCAA arena the East NCAA Regional Championships.
“This is a big event for us and we are definitely excited about being here,” said head coach Ritchie Beene. “Every track meet that we have been to this year has been highly competitive for us, and this has prepared us for this moment.”
The 10 member Hornets will have their first event on Thursday, May 26th with a 6:45 p.m. start in the long jump. Kadijah Gordon is ranked 56th in the nation with a jump of 6.01m and will be one of the Lady Hornets on the stage first.
Santina Williams is ranked 32nd in the nation after clocking a season best with the time of 53.17 in the 400m during the Beach Invitational. The graduated senior also ranks number 28 among the nation’s athletes in the 200-meter, which will be ran on Friday.
Several athletes will be running all three days of this event. Athletes will participate in the first round which will be the top 48 performers in each event and must qualify for the next round which will consist of the top 24 finishers (quarterfinals), before they can move on to the final round, which is the National Championships held in Eugene, Oregon June 8-11.
“Our main goal will be to get out of tomorrow’s competition, to go to the next round in order to qualify for the nationals” said Beene. “We have a quite a few busy days ahead of us, and people like Santina will have to run every day that she’s here. All our athletes that we have brought will have to be prepared for this and with some of them that have been here before know what it will take to get to the next round.”
Williams and the team of Alexis Ferebee, Monica Howard, and Shantia Wilson are ranked 31st in the nation in the 4×100-meter relay team, which will run on Saturday and they have all been here before with the exception of Howard, who will run on this particular type of platform for the first time.
Terrance Adams, who is the only male brought on the trip, will be running the 110 hurdles on Friday.
Beene expects that there may be a little nervousness amongst some of the athletes.
“Some of these young ladies have been here before. They know what to expect. But, for Monica and Terrance this will be their first time. The thing about this is that the ones who have been here before know what they are up against. If they are really, really nervous they are not showing it thus far, but when the gun sounds we will find out who’s nervous, who’s scared and who’s not.”
Last year, the Lady Hornets 4×400 team had a qualifying time of 3:34.12, which sent the team to the National Championship.
The team has returned with a 39th ranking in the nation. The only difference this year is they have had to run with a different fourth leg (Wilson). The Ladies will run that event on Saturday, which will be one of the final events of the day.
“I am positive that our kids will get out there the next few days and do their best,” said Beene. “All I can do at this point is sit in the stands and hope for the best from each one these athletes.
