JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Norfolk State senior sprinter Steve Coles ran a 400-meter dash time of 46.79 seconds Thursday evening to advance to the next round at the NCAA East Preliminary Round hosted by the University of North Florida.

Coles ran the fourth-fastest time in his 400-meter heat, which was the first of the six heats contested Thursday. The top three finishers in each heat automatically qualified for the next round in addition to the next six-fastest times overall, and Coles grabbed one of those six spots with his second-best career clocking. 

Coles will need to be one of the top 12 finishers out of the 24 men in Friday night's quarterfinal round in order to advance to the NCAA Outdoor National Track & Field Championships at Oregon next month. Friday's quarterfinal round starts at 6:15 p.m. at UNF.

Also Thursday, redshirt sophomore Allan Frye competed in the 400-meter hurdles. Frye placed sixth in his heat and 37th overall out of the 48 athletes in the event, posting a time of 53.00 seconds in his final race of the season.

Both Coles and Frye were making the first NCAA regional appearances of their careers.