Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University head track and field coach Erik Jenkins received word from the NCAA Track & Field Committee Wednesday night that Lady Topper Jade Nimmo had been added to the indoor national championship field this weekend in Nampa, Idaho.
Nimmo – a sophomore transfer from Falkirk,Scotland – is tied for 17th on the national descending order list in the long jump with a mark of 20-5.75. She recorded that distance with a runner-up and all-Sun Belt Conference performance at the league indoor championship two weeks ago. That mark also ranks second in Lady Topper history.
This marks the fourth-straight year that WKU has been represented at the NCAA Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship and the second-straight year a Lady Topper has qualified in the long jump. Last season, Sharika Smith earned second-team all-America honors in the long jump and honorable-mention honors in the triple jump. In 2010, Janet Jesang pulled double-duty at the national meet, competing in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters. In 2009, Valerie Brown earned all-America honors with a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash, while Jesang competed in the 5,000 meters, as did the 4x400-meter relay team of Brown, Alecia Brown, Samantha Smith and Miaie Williams.
WKU joins an elite list of only six schools (Southern Miss, Florida State, TCU, Central Florida, Arizona State and WKU) to have an indoor national qualifier in the women's long jump two-straight years.
Nimmo is seeded in the first flight of the women's long jump, which is scheduled to begin at 8:15pm (CT) at Jacksons Indoor Track at the Idaho Center Friday.
