JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Junior Keith Nkrumah punched a ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships by placing third in his heat of the 110 meter hurdles on Saturday night in the East Preliminary Round at Hodges Stadium on the University of North Florida campus.

Nkrumah ran a time of 13.71 seconds, seventh-fastest out of the 27-man field in Saturday's national quarterfinal round. The top three from each of the three heats plus the next three fastest times advanced automatically to the national meet at Drake University June 6-9. Nkrumah was third in the third and final heat.

Competing in the same event, senior Aramis Massenburg wasn't as fortunate. The 2011 honorable mention All-American was fourth in heat No. 2, clocking a time of 13.95 seconds. That proved not to be fast enough to advance on time alone to the nationals, ranking 15th out of the 27 runners. Josh Thompson of Pittsburgh earned the 12th and final qualifying spot in 13.87 seconds.

Massenburg, who was competing in his first meet in a month due to an injured foot, ended his illustrious NSU career with three MEAC gold medals, one honorable mention All-America designation, and was a part of a senior class that won every MEAC indoor and outdoor title the last four years (eight in all).

Later Saturday, Nkrumah teamed with James Taylor, Vincent Brown and Kenneth Smith in the 4x400 meter relay. The Spartans ran a time of 3 minutes, 15.45 seconds, not fast enough to advance to nationals.