WKU Track and Field will be sending 10 student-athletes and two men’s relay teams to the NCAA East Region Preliminaries, as announced by the NCAA Thursday afternoon.
Seven Hilltoppers and three Lady Toppers qualified for the meet in Lexington on May 25-27. Each event qualified 48 individuals, with the top 12 finishers advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Eugene, Ore., on June 7-10.
Ventavius Sears leads the charge as the reigning Conference USA Outdoor Championships High Point Scorer of the Meet qualified in two events – long jump and triple jump. Sears’ marks in the region rank 10th (triple jump) and 15th (long jump), respectively.
Junior Desmond Mobley will also compete in the long jump as his mark is the 40th-best in the East Region. In addition to the long jump, Mobley will participate in the high jump as well.
On the track, the hurdles will be well represented by the Red and White in Jonathan Hayden (110m) and Maor Seged (400m). The duo both have top-five times in school history in the hurdles.
Three Hilltoppers will compete in the short sprints as Julius Morris, who broke two C-USA Outdoor Championships records last weekend, and Eli Minor will run in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while Emmanuel Dasor will run in the 400-meter dash.
On the women’s side, Toronto native Khadijah Valentine qualified for both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Valentine racked up 17.5 points at the C-USA Championships, which was the sixth-most of any competitor.
Junior Morgan McIntyre and senior Jenessa Jackson will compete in the pole vault and shot put, respectively. McIntyre, who won both the 2017 Indoor and Outdoor C-USA pole vault titles, is tied for the 16th-best mark in the East Region, and Jackson is coming off a third place finish in the shot put at El Paso, Texas.
This marks the 10th-straight year under head coach Erik Jenkins that WKU has sent at least 10 athletes to the East Preliminaries.
For more information on the NCAA East Region Preliminaries, click here to go to the home page.
How to follow WKU Track & Field: For complete information on WKU Track & Field, follow the team on Twitter at @WKUTrackField.
-@WKUSports-
Lance Dozier
WKU Athletic Communications Assistant
