EUGENE, Ore. -- The Hilltoppers' 4x100-meter relay and WKU field athletes Ventavius Sears and Tomas Guerra nabbed All-American honors during the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Oregon at Hayward Field.
Sears earned First Team All-American honors in the long jump with a leap of 7.76 meters to become just the fourth Hilltopper to capture All-American accolades in the event. Sears, a sophomore, hit 7.71 meters in his third jump to secure a berth in the finals before clearing 7.76 in his fifth jump to move from ninth to eighth place. His finish is the best by a Hilltopper in the long jump since Andrejs Maskancevs placed seventh at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
Sears also ran the second leg of WKU's 4x100-meter relay that finished 11th in Wednesday's semifinals to garner Second Team All-American accolades. Junior Ja'Karyus Redwine ran the lead leg, Sears followed, fellow sophomore Emmanuel Dasor was positioned third and junior Corey Parks anchored the quartet that clocked in at 39.67 seconds. The Hilltoppers finished third in the third heat of the event, missing out on an automatic berth in Friday's finals by one position.
By running on three All-American relays and nabbing individual All-American status in the long jump, Sears is already a four-time All-American just two seasons into his Hilltopper career.
Guerra became the second three-time All-American field athlete in WKU history when he finished 10th in the javelin throw with a mark of 69.66 meters. His toss was good enough for Second Team All-American status, which follows his 2013 and 2014 seasons in which he was a First Team All-American. With Tomas and his brother Ignacio (2011-12), WKU has now had an All-American javelin thrower in five-consecutive seasons.
Guerra joins former shot put star Jesse Stuart (1973-75), a five-time All-American, as the only two field athletes in WKU history to earn All-American status three times.
Wednesday marked the end of 2015 competition for the Hilltoppers, who have now had at least five All-Americans in three-straight seasons. The Lady Toppers 4x100-meter relay will run in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT) and their top sprinter, Chioma Agwunobi, will race in the 100 and 200-meter dashes tomorrow night as well.
ESPN will broadcast the remaining three days of the NCAA Championships across its family of networks, including ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPN and ESPN2.
Live results for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships can be found at the following link: http://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/track-field/results/d1/outdoor15/final/index.htm
WKU Schedule At NCAA Championships (CT)
4x1 (Women) -- Thursday 6 p.m. [Semifinals]
100M Dash -- Thursday 7:15 p.m. [Semifinals]
200M Dash -- Thursday 8:15 p.m. [Semifinals]
4x1 (Women) -- Saturday 4:05 p.m. [Finals]
100M Dash -- Saturday 4:55 p.m. [Finals]
200M Dash -- Saturday 5:40 p.m. [Finals]
