| Senior Will Vese posted the second-fastest performance in school history on Saturday. |
AMES, Iowa ? Senior Will Vese's bid to improve his standing on the national leaderboard and earn in a spot in next week's NCAA 60-meter hurdles field was successful at Saturday's Iowa State Qualifier.
Vese raced to a personal-best and NCAA provisional 7.82 in a runner-up performance to Bethune Cookman's Ronnie Ash, who entered the meet with the second-fastest time in the country (7.68). The three-time Southland Conference Champion moved up two spots to 17th in the country and just missed matching Carl Johnson's school-record of 7.81, which was set at the 2003 SLC Championships.
The Houston native essentially sewed up a spot in the national field, but he will have to wait until Monday night when declarations officially are announced. Vese, who had the day's second-fastest preliminary mark (7.92), entered the meet with the 19th-best time nationally (7.86).
"Will did exactly what he needed to do today," seventh-year head coach Aaron Fox said. "It was a fantastic performance in a field that included the nation's second-leading hurdler and he proved he derserves a spot at nationals. Now we just need to wait for declarations to be announced on Monday night."
In other action for the Roadrunners, juniors Johnathan Whiitaker and Dana Mecke both posted career bests but were unable to put themselves in position to qualify for next week's meet.
Whittaker was able to provisionally qualify with hiscareer-best leap of 7-0 ? (2.14m/No. 3 UTSA history) in a second-place effort in the highjump, but he ranks 28th in the country and that will likely be too low when declarations are released. The Houston native finishes his third indoor campaign having finished third or better in all five of his meets, including winning performances at the New Balance Invitational and SLC Championships.
Meanwhile, Mecke clocked a personal-record 2:09.25 (No. 2 UTSA history) in the 800m but missed the NCAA provisional standard by a mere quarter of a second. The four-time SLC Champion finished in fourth place.
The NCAA Champsionships begin on Friday, March 13, in College Station.