Shakima Wimbley, 4x400m Advance to Finals
EUGENE, Oregon – The University of Miami’s Shakima Wimbley is headed to the first NCAA final of her collegiate career.
The standout sophomore punched her ticket to the women’s 400m final, winning Heat 2 of the women’s 400m semifinals with a time of 51.68 seconds and adding another bullet point to an impressive 2015 resume.
“Kima, I’m just proud of her,” Miami director of track and field/cross country Amy Deem said. “She ran her race and ran with confidence and made her first NCAA final. She’s run fast since she’s been at Miami, but today she came out and took control of her heat. Hopefully she takes the same attitude and confidence into the final on Saturday.”
Wimbley entered the NCAA Championships with the top time in the country, a blazing 50.84 seconds that earned a gold medal at the ACC Championships while setting a new ACC record. After also winning the 200m at the ACC Championships, Wimbley was named the ACC Women’s Track MVP. Her latest accolade came on Monday when she was announced as the South Regional Women’s Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native is seeded second in Saturday’s final, scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET, and will compete against an impressive field that includes two-time NCAA 400m champion Ashley Spencer and standout sophomore Kendall Baisden from the University of Texas, as well as ACC foes Kala Funderburk of Florida State and Margaret Bamgbose of Notre Dame.
Wimbley capped her incredible Thursday at Hayward Field by running Miami’s anchor leg on the 4x400m relay and it was a good one. The sophomore ran her lap in 51.08 seconds, the fastest leg of the day, to help the Canes place fourth in Heat 3 with a time of 3:33.18.
“I thought it was a big step for our 4×4 to get into the final,” Deem said. “I knew we were ready to run, but there are a lot of great teams here. I was excited with how they competed. I knew when I looked ta the heat sheet that there were some teams in there that hadn’t run what they normally run but they have great athletes and will compete hard. I am really pleased that we handled it. We have some areas we need to improve on before Saturday, but I think they have a chance to do something special on Saturday.”
Wimbley’s effort helped secure a spot for the Hurricanes in Saturday’s final, where she, Kelsey Balkwill, Taneisha Cordell and Anthonia Moore will compete at 7:20 p.m. ET.
“We’ve got to do a better job up front,” Deem said. “We did a really good job at the region meet of keeping it a little bit closer. Kelsey and Taneisha did a great job. That was probably the best effort I’ve seen from Taneisha all year on that leg. She did a tremendous job and we need that same effort on Saturday. Anthonia has to run like she did at the region meet because you can’t keep putting your anchor leg in the hole like that. But they did well and made the final. I’m excited. We just have to fix a couple of things before Saturday.”
Three other Hurricanes competed on Thursday as individuals, one on the track and two in the field events.
Kelsey Balkwill finished fourth in Heat 2 of the women’s 400m hurdles semifinals. The senior’s time of 57.06 seconds was eighth-fastest in the semifinals, but third-best among the non-automatic qualifiers. Balkwill missed advancing by three-thousandths of a second, becoming the fastest ever non-qualifier in the women’s 400m hurdles in history.
“We protested it and made them re-read it,” Deem said. “We felt like we owed that to Kelsey, but it didn’t fall her way. It was the second-fastest time of her life so it was still a great effort on her part.”
Junior Alysha Newman placed ninth in the women’s pole vault clearing 4.20m.
It was disappointing for Kelsey and Alysha.” Deem said. “That ninth spot is the worst because you’re so close.”
Precious Ogunleye was the first Cane in action on Thursday, competing in the women’s hammer throw. The junior placed 21st overall with a mark of 57.17m.
Friday is the final day of men’s action and it could be a sign of good things to come for one Hurricane. John-Patrick Friday will make his NCAA Outdoor Championships debut at 7:30 p.m. ET when the men’s triple jump begins.
June 13 marks the final day of the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships Wimbley will kick things off for the Hurricanes, running the 400m final at 6:05 p.m. ET. The women’s 4x400m relay will close out the meet with their final, scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET.
The 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. All four days of action will be broadcast across the ESPN family of networks.
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