JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Norfolk State's
Martha Bissah and
Kiara Grant both earned spots at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships by finishing in the top 12 of their respective events Friday night at the NCAA East Preliminary Round meet at the University of North Florida.
The top three from each of the three quarterfinal heats and next three fastest times – 12 athletes total – advance from the regional round to the outdoor nationals at the University of Texas in two weeks. Bissah earned an automatic with a top-three finish in the 800 meters. She was third in her quarterfinal in 2:04.74.
Bissah becomes the first Spartan female to ever qualify for three NCAA Division I national championship events. She was a first-team outdoor All-American as a sophomore last June, and was a first-team All-American again this year during indoor season in the 800.
Grant placed second in her heat and sixth overall in Friday's 100-meter quarterfinals with a time of 11.19 seconds. She ran an 11.24 in Thursday's first round before posting her fourth-fastest time of the season Friday.
Grant and senior
Tyrika Lee also competed in the first-round heats of the 200 meters on Friday. Grant posted a PR of 23.29 seconds to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round, but Lee failed to advance with a time of 24.32 seconds.
In other quarterfinals Friday, two Spartan men fell just shy of advancing to nationals. Junior
Jaylen Banks was fifth in his heat and 15th overall in the 400-meter hurdles in 50.70 seconds, his second-best time ever. Sophomore
Trequan Barnes placed 19th in the 400 meters in 46.66 seconds.
The last of the 10 Spartan track athletes to qualify for the East Prelims, junior high jumper
Jacob Milton, will compete beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday. Grant runs in the 200 quarterfinals at 7:35 p.m. later in the evening.
