JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- WKU sophomore Ventavius Sears hit 7.84 meters in the long jump during the first day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Championships in Jacksonville, Fla. and that mark was good enough to punch his ticket to June's NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Sears leaped 7.84 meters in his second attempt to place third among the East Preliminary field, trailing only Florida's Marquis Dendy (8.05) and North Carolina State's Jonathan Addison (7.87). The Top 12 finishers in each event advance to the NCAA Championships, hosted by Oregon at Hayward Field June 10-13.
With his advancement, Sears becomes the first Hilltopper to earn a trip to Eugene in the long jump since Andrejs Maskancevs qualified for nationals in 2010. The versatile sophomore will also have an opportunity to advance in the 200-meter dash and both the 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays during this weekend's preliminary championships.
For the Lady Toppers, senior sprinter Chioma Agwunobi advanced to Friday's quarterfinals in the 100-meter dash with a first-round clocking of 11.62 seconds. Agwunobi's time ranked 18th on Thursday, but Friday's Top 12 finishers will qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Sophomore teammate Carrol Hardy missed the cut and finished 34th overall with a time of 11.81 seconds.
Junior Ja'Karyus Redwine also placed 34th in the 100-meter dash for the Hilltoppers, coming in at 10.64 seconds to close his individual competition in 2015. Redwine will run legs of WKU's relays on Saturday.
Travis Gerding, who broke WKU's hammer throw record in three-consecutive meets leading up to Thursday's preliminary competition, placed 37th in the hammer with a toss of 59.36 meters. He'll have one more chance to advance to nationals on Saturday in the shot put competition.
Sophomore Jenessa Jackson heaved the shot put 13.57 meters for the Lady Toppers on Thursday to place 44th in the field. She too will have another opportunity to advance to nationals on Saturday as she will compete in the hammer throw.
Competition continues Friday for the Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers as WKU will have representatives in the 100-meter dash quarterfinals, the first round of the 200-meter dashes on both sides and Tomas Guerra looking to punch his third-straight ticket to Eugene in the javelin throw.
