Atherley Records PR in 100 Hurdles at NCAA Heptathlon
AUSTIN, Texas – After four events of the women’s heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Michelle Atherley of the Miami track and field team sits in third place with 3,671 points.
Atherley, the 2019 NCAA Indoor Pentathlon National Champion, opened up Friday’s competition registering a lifetime-best time of 12.97 seconds in the 100m hurdles. Atherley’s time was the fastest time of the 24 competitors and gave her a commanding lead with 1,129 points.
The North Port, Fla., native finished 10th in the high jump, registering a mark of 1.69m to add 842 points. After two events, Atherley dropped to fifth place.
The back-to-back ACC Outdoor Heptathlon Champion made up ground in the title race, finishing fourth in the shot put with a season-best mark of 12.86m. The mark bumped Atherley up two positions into third with a total of 2,689 points.
The senior closed out the day with a fourth-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 23.99. Friday night’s time was just shy of her personal-best time of 23.97 she set earlier in the season on her home track. After the first four events, Atherley totaled 3,671 points and sits 201 points behind Tyra Gittens of Texas A&M in first and 161 behind Ashtin Zamzow of Texas.
Atherley will compete in the final three events of the heptathlon Saturday with the long jump scheduled for 1:30 p.m. followed by the javelin and concluding with the 800m at 7:13.
Tiara McMinn and Samantha Gonzalez will return to the track in their respective finals. McMinn bested Miami’s program record and set a personal best time of 12.74 in the event semifinals on Thursday night to advance to the finals, while Gonzalez ran a season-best time of 57.07 in the 400m hurdles to reach the finals.
McMinn is scheduled to compete at 6:12 p.m. and Gonzalez at 6:57.
Debbie Ajagbe and Zakiya Rashid will be the final Canes to compete at Nationals, as the pair will go against the best of the best in the women’s discus throw at 5:05 p.m. Rashid threw her second-best mark of the season at East Prelims to advance to nationals with her mark of 55.06m. Ajagbe registered the eighth-best mark in the East with the mark of 53.33m. Ajagbe will compete in Flight 1 and Rashid will follow in Flight 2.
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