Thirteen black college track and field competitors and three relayteams advanced out of NCAA Outdoor Div. I Track & Field East and
West Regional championships Saturday.
They will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon on Wednesday, June 10 thru Saturday, June 13.
The top 12 finishers in each individual event and the top 12 relay teams from the regionals advanced to Eugene.
Twin juniors Isaiah and Xzavier Taylor of North Carolina A&T posted the best and third-best times in the 400 meter hurdles at the East
Regional in Lexington, Kentucky Saturday.
Isaiah ran a personal best of 48.71 seconds to finish first in the third and final 400 hurdles heat Saturday. Xzavier also clocked a personal best of 48.82 for to finish first in Heat 1. Florida sophomore Vance Nilsson won Heat 2 in 48.77 to clock the second-best time.
Xzavier and Isiah had both clocked 49.76 in the preliminary rounds to both go under 50 seconds for the first time this season.
The Taylors were also part of A&T’s 4×400 relay team that included Elijah Thomas and Dymond Walker that advanced after posting the
seventh-best time of 3:01.22.
A&T sophomore Jason Holmes also is headed to Eugene with the eighth-best time (13.40 seconds) in the men’s 110-meter hurdles. Florida A&M senior Leonard Mustari, who began his career at A&T, also advanced in the event with the 12th-best time, 13.53 seconds.
A&T’s 4×100 meter relay quartet of Lessale Hewitt, Holmes, Jalen Booth-Mitchell and Nakhi Benjamin posted the sixth-best time of 38.84 to advance.
Also advancing for the Aggies was junior Xavier Partee who had a jump of 16.26 meters to finish second in the triple jump. Alabama State
senior Anthony Woods fell just short of advancing with a 13th-place finish (15.80m) in the event.
Alabama A&M junior Justin Walker advanced with a 12th-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 7.67 meters.
Booth-Mitchell, an Aggie senior, fell just short of advancing in the 200 meters as he finished with the 13th best time in 20.50.
Southern high jumpers, Roman Smith (2.11m) and Keith Fowler (2.11m), also just missed out on advancing, finishing 13th and 14th in
their semifinals.
In the women’s East Regional, Howard sophomore Yahnari Lyons clocked a 22.72 seconds time in the 200 meters to finish fifth and punch
her ticket to Eugene. Florida A&M’s Diandrenique Gaines finished 15th with a time of 23.00.
Lyons later teamed with Nilajah Darden, Marcia Sey and Mackenzie Robinson in Howard’s 4×100 relay team who posted a time of 43.23 seconds, good for seventh place. Florida A&M (Janaree Kinchen, Gaines, Kiersten Clark and Arayana Ladson) also advanced
with a 10th-place finish in 43.31 seconds.
Southern junior Tashina Alase posted the second-best time in the 100 hurdles at 12.74 seconds to advance. Alabama State’s Rasunek
Tyler-Thompson finished 15th in 13.11.
A&T senior Spirit Morgan advanced with a leap of 1.82 meters to finish tied for second in the high jump. Aggie junior Olivia Dowd also
advanced in the triple jump with an eighth-place finish in 13.23m as did Alabama State freshman Daedrian Beville who finished 12th at 13.21m. Howard’s Cenaya Billups and Aniya Woodruff had a 2-3 finish in the 400 hurdles with times of 55.09 and 55.43 respectively to advance.
There were only three black college athletes competing in the West Regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas. None of the three advanced.