Williams, Woodard, and TSU Relay Head to NCAA Nationals
SWAC.org
Prairie View A&M Sophomore
Preston Woodard punched his ticket to the NCAA National Meet as he placed sixth in the triple jump at the NCAA Division I Track and Field West Preliminary Round on Friday evening.
This will be the first national appearance for the Panther, who qualified with an opening jump of 51-3. He recorded a final mark of 51-10 in his second jump. As a result, Woodard completes the rare feet of qualifying for both the indoor and outdoor national championships. He is also Prairie View A&M first men's track athlete to earn a national berth since 2009, and the first jumper since Ron Nelson's sixth-place appearance in the high jump in 2000.
Grambling State Junior Akeem Williams will join Woodard at the NCAA Nationals, as he placed twelfth in the men's 200 meter dash at the NCAA Division I Track and Field East Preliminary Round on Saturday evening. Williams qualified, grabbing the last spot on the national roster, after finishing third in Heat 3 of the preliminaries. He recorded a time of 20.68, just two hundredths of a second ahead of LSU's Keyth Talley (20.70).
The Texas Southern 4x400 Relay team grabbed the last qualifying spot in the NCAA Championships after their performance at the NCAA West Regional Preliminaries. Sophomore Jeffry Lacroix, Juniors Michael Holmes and Arte' Collings, and Senior Treven Dickerson qualified for NCAA Nationals after running the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:08.45.
The 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and FIeld Championship will take place June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake Stadium. Williams will compete in the 200 Meters on Thursday, June 7, with the event scheduled to start at 5:30 PM, while Woodard will be competing in the triple jump on Day 3, Friday, June 8 at 4:30 PM.