TAMPA, Fla. – WKU had three representatives post qualifying times on the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Regional. Hilltoppers Oliver Alexandre and Kymari Gates and Lady Topper Ariel Terrell each qualified for the quarterfinals of their individual events to be run tomorrow.
In the men's 400-meter event, Gates finished in the top-three competitors in his heat with a time of 46.28, automatically qualifying him for the quarterfinals. After all the heats were finished, Alexandre had one of the next six fastest times outside the top-three in each heat, allowing him to advance to tomorrow's competition. Gates and Alexandre will compete in the quarterfinals of the men's 400-meter tomorrow at noon CT.
Terrell competed in the women's 400-meter hurdles Thursday afternoon and finished third in her heat, qualifying her for the event quarterfinals with a time of 58.68. She will compete tomorrow at approximately 1:45 p.m.
"Ariel competed hard to earn a spot in the next round of the 400 hurdles," said head coach Erik Jenkins. "Kymari and Oliver also advanced in the 400 which is one of the deepest events in the NCAA this year."
WKU had six other representatives compete today between the track and the long jump pit. Maor Seged and Denzel Villaman ran in the men's 400-meter hurdles posting times of 52.72 and 54.68, respectively. Seged finished 37th in the first round while Villaman placed 47th. Eli Minor competed as the sole Hilltopper in the 100-meter dash, finishing 32nd in the first round and clocking a time of 10.46.
Conference USA Champion Juannae Lewis ran a 400-meter time of 53.29, good for 29th place in the first round of the event. Lewis will have another chance to qualify for a quartefinal as she is set to run in the 200-meter dash tomorrow.
Two Hilltoppers competed in the men's long jump Thursday afternoon. Desmond Mobley just narrowly missed the 12-man qualifying field, finishing 14th with a jump of 7.58 meters. Alec Tanksley jumped a mark of 7.16 meters placing 38th in his first time at the NCAA Regionals.
"Several other WKU student-athletes competed well and came up just short, but they were only bested by some of the NCAA's elite," said Jenkins of WKU's performance on Thursday.
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