19 Canes Qualify for NCAA East Preliminary
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Nineteen members of the University of Miami track and field program were among the qualifiers announced Thursday by the NCAA for the 2015 East Preliminary.
Eight men and 11 women make up the group of 19 Hurricanes scheduled to compete in 18 events at the NCAA East Preliminary from May 28-30 in Jacksonville. A year ago, Miami had 20 student-athletes qualify for regionals, competing in 15 different events.
The Preliminary championships competitions will be held May 28-30. The East region will be held at North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, and the West region at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. The qualifiers out of these regions will compete in the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 10-13 in Eugene, Oregon.
Miami’s women’s team has several experienced student-athletes heading to Jacksonville. Seniors Taneisha Cordell and Lea Johnson and junior Alysha Newman qualified for the third consecutive year, while juniors Jamika Glades and Dakota Dailey-Harris and sophomores Shakima Wimbley and Anthonia Moore have qualified for the second consecutive year. Senior Kelsey Balkwill is also qualifying for the second time after reaching the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary as a member of Miami’s 4x100m relay.
The men’s team also had repeat qualifiers as junior John-Patrick Friday is headed to regionals for the third straight year, while sophomores Gian Piero Ragonesi and Carlos Mangum are back for the second time. Senior Christian Cook is headed to his second NCAA East Preliminary after competing in the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles in 2013. Miami had eight men qualify for regionals, tying a program-best set a year ago.
Miami has several impressive qualifiers, but only one boasts the top time in the country in their event. Wimbley’s 400m time of 50.84 seconds is the fastest in the NCAA this year and ranks fourth in the world. The sophomore heads to the NCAA East Preliminary fresh off earning a pair of gold medals at the ACC Outdoor Championships and being named the 2015 ACC women’s track MVP. Wimbley also qualified in the women’s 200m with a time of 22.43 seconds that ranks second in the East Region and third nationally, but she will not compete in the event as she focuses on the 400m and the 4x400m relay.
Newman is also a highly-ranked qualifier in the women’s pole vault. The junior’s season-best mark of 4.31m is sixth in the East Region and 14th nationally as she heads into her third consecutive NCAA East Preliminary fresh off earning a silver medal in the event at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
Cordell is headed back to Jacksonville to compete in the women’s 800m fresh off running a personal-best time of 2:04.65 at the ACC Outdoor Championships that ranks third in UM history, 10th in the NCAA East Region and 25th in the country.
The Canes will have two hurdlers competing in Jacksonville as Glades qualified in both the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles, while Balkwill earned a spot in the 400m hurdles. Glades heads to the East Preliminary with the ninth-best 400m hurdles time in the region (57.51), while Balkwill is ranked 16th in the East Region (57.96).
The 4x400m relay rounds out the Hurricane runners on the women’s side. The relay pool of Wimbley, Cordell, Balkwill, Glades, Anthonia Moore and Amy Taintor heads to Jacksonville with a time of 3:33.00 –eighth-fastest in the East Region.
Miami will have five women competing in the field events at the NCAA East Preliminary: Newman in the pole vault, Dailey-Harris in the high jump, and Johnson, Precious Ogunleye and Tiffany Okieme in the throws.
Dailey-Harris heads to Jacksonville fresh off her season-best mark of 1.78m that netted her a silver medal at the ACC Outdoor Championships. The junior is ranked 27th in the East Region and will look to return to nationals after earning a spot a year ago.
Ogunleye is the highest-ranked thrower in the group, as the 2015 ACC champion in the hammer throw is ranked 11th in the East Region in the event. She will also compete in the discus and will be joined by Johnson and Okieme in the hammer throw field. Okieme will also compete in the shot put, where she is ranked 17th in the East Region.
The men’s team had three throwers qualify for the NCAA regional. Mangum (hammer) and Ragonesi (shot put, discus) are back for the second consecutive year, while Daniel Polinski (shot put) will compete in their first NCAA East Preliminary.
Artie Burns is Miami’s highest ranked male in the 2015 NCAA East Preliminary. The junior heads to Jacksonville with the 12th-best time in the region in the 110m hurdles, 13.70 seconds. Burns has competed once this season, but he made the most of it. The standout hurdler earned a silver medal in the 110m hurdles at the 2015 ACC Outdoor Championships.
Two more men’s hurdlers will join Burns in Jacksonville as senior Christian Cook qualified in both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles, while freshman Robert Grant earned a spot in the 400m hurdles field.
Friday is the lone male jumper headed to the NCAA East Preliminary, but he will compete in both the long jump and triple jump. Heading into his third straight NCAA East Preliminary, Friday is ranked 11th in the long jump and 25th in the triple jump.
Freshman Henri Delauze is the final Hurricane headed to Jacksonville and the standout is ranked 35th in the East Region in the men’s 400m with a time of 46.93 seconds.
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