BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- A total of 20 WKU track and field athletes have qualified for the NCAA East Preliminary Championships as a result of their qualifying marks during the 2016 outdoor season. The Championships are set to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 26-28.
Twelve Hilltoppers and eight Lady Tops ranked in the Top 48 in the East Region in their respective events to qualify for the preliminary championships. The Top 12 finishers in each event will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on June 8-11.
The Hilltopper trio of Ventavius Sears, Julius Morris and Kyree King lead the pack as each athlete qualified for a pair of East Preliminary events.
Sears will represent WKU as the 15th seed in the long jump after recording the No. 30 jump in the nation with an effort of 7.75 meters at last week's C-USA Championships. He'll also be seeded 38th in the triple jump event. On the track, Morris and King qualified for both the 100 meter and 200 meter events. Morris will be the 15th seed in the 100 meter dash after turning in a superb effort of 10.29 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays earlier this year. The run currently ranks 34th in the nation. Morris will also be the 17th seed in the 200 meter dash after clocking an effort of 20.63 seconds at the C-USA Championships. The time currently ranks No. 31 nationally. King will be the 32nd seed in the 100 meter dash and the 46th seed in the 200 meter event.
Rounding out WKU's time on the track will be three Hilltoppers who have received a top 15 seed heading into the preliminary competition.
Junior Emmanuel Dasor will be the No. 15 seed in the 400 meter dash after recording a time of 45.82 seconds at the C-USA Outdoor Championships. The time currently ranks 23rd nationally. Vincent Wyatt's C-USA Championship effort time of 13.81 seconds in the 110 meter hurdles let him qualify 14th in the event. The time currently ranks 31st nationally. Maor Seged's C-USA Championship time of 51.15 at the C-USA Championships has given him a 15th seed in the 400 meter hurdles as the time currently ranks No. 31 in the nation. Jonathan Hayden will join Wyatt in the 110 meter hurdles event as he will be the 38th seed after recording an effort of 14.16 seconds at the C-USA Championships.
Along with Sears, three other Hilltoppers will represent WKU in field events as rookie Keenon Laine is seeded 4th in the high jump competition after completing a school record jump of 2.20 meters earlier this year. The jump ranks 11th nationally. Sophomore Nick Demaline qualified for the shot put competition as the 19th seed after completing a throw of 18.38 meters earlier this year at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invitational. The effort ranks 42nd nationally. Tomas Guerra rounds out the group by taking part in the javelin competition as the fifth seed after notching an impressive throw of 74.46 meters also at the Vanderbilt Black and Gold Invite earlier this year. The throw ranks 11th nationally.
On the women's side, Jadzia Beasley is seeded 13th in the 100 meter dash as the freshman is coming off a C-USA Championship time of 11.38 seconds last weekend. The time ranks 63rd nationally. Khadijah Valentine will join her on the track as the sophomore will be the 37th seed in the 200 meter event after notching a time of 23.70 also at the C-USA Championships.
Three Lady Toppers qualified for field events as Sandra Akachukwu is seed 33rd in the high jump coming off a mark of 1.75 meters at the Memphis Tiger Invite. Ariana Kuhn and Jenessa Jackson will both take part in the hammer throw event as Kuhn will be the 36th seed while Jackson is seeded 42nd.
Three WKU relay teams have also qualified for the NCAA East Preliminaries as both the men's 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams as well as the Lady Topper 4x100 relay squad are expected to compete.
Since taking over in 2008, WKU head coach Erik Jenkins has developed a total of 158 regional qualifiers and qualified at least 15 athletes in seven of his nine seasons as head coach. WKU has advanced a total of 41 athletes to regional competition in the last two seasons which is the highest two-year total since 43 combined athletes qualified during the 2009-10 seasons.
The NCAA East Preliminary Championships are set to be held on the campus of the University of North Florida for the third consecutive season in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 26-28.
