CANYON, Texas—The long jumpers and the women’s 4×100 relay team each helped themselves in their quest to reach the NCAA East prelims in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday at the West Texas A&M Last Chance Meet.
Adam Lindo and Andrew Gilreath positioned themselves for a trip to Jacksonville with impressive jumps. The pairing went 1-2 with Lindo winning with a big 25-0 jump to put him in a tie for 30th place in the event. The top 48 in the region head to the NCAA first round.
Gilreath came in second at the meet with a 24-11.25 and more importantly, the distance put him in a tie for 33rd in the region to put himself in position to head to Jacksonville.
“Adam and Andrew had a great day,” head coach Mike Heimerman said. “They really stepped up big after having their marks taken away from conference. I’m excited that they came back after the disappointment of the conference mishap and qualify for the NCAA first round.”
The women’s 4×100 relay team of Victoria Byrd, Lynell Washington, Maygan Shaw and Vanessa Balde posted a season best with a 44.83 in the meet to jump from 25th in the region to 23rd. The top 24 relay teams reach the NCAA first round. Only one team per school reaches the first round.
While they didn’t improve upon their season bests, the throwers are in good shape of making it to Jacksonville.
Djimon Gumbs tossed a 61-7.75 in the last chance meet, just shy of the 63-1.5 he set at the Cowboy Relays, which is currently ninth in the region.
In the discus, Djimon Gumbs, Diamante Gumbs and Tarajh Hudson all fell shy of their season-bests, but are currently in the top 30 in the region.
Lynell Washington ran a 12.00 in Canyon in the 100-meter dash, but still ranks tied for 40th with an 11.40 she had at the Battle on the Bayou. The cutoff point at this moment is an 11.42.
Simon Wulff participated in the 100 and 200-meters for the Demons, aiming to improve his standing. While he didn’t improve his numbers at the last chance meet, he is still holding onto a spot in both events, ranking 33rd in the 100-meters (10.22) and tied for 45th in the 200-meters (20.73) with the top 48 heading to Jacksonville.
Sian Weller is hanging on to the final spot in the 400-meter hurdles with a 58.97, ranking 48th in the region. She ran a 1:00.02 in the meet as she tried to improve her time to make the NCAA first round.
“Overall, I was very pleased with everyone,” Heimerman said. “After competing at a super high level at conference for three days and the travel with that, then compete on very short turn around for this meet with the super long bus ride, it was impressive to have this type of showing.”
The qualifiers head to the NCAA first round in Jacksonville for a four-day event, beginning May 24. The NCAA nationals will be held June 7 in Austin, Texas.
