FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The UTSA track & field team made an addition to its Eugene, Ore. travel party and added another to the next round on Thursday at the NCAA West Region First Round. Freshman Ida Breigan joined Wednesday qualifier and fellow long jumper Gabriel Binion in punching her own ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while senior Ayumi Kobayashi qualified for Saturday’s 100-meter hurdles quarterfinal with her career-best clocking.
The Fredrikstad, Norway rookie, Breigan delivered on high expectations in Thursday’s long jump first round, securing her bid to compete in her second NCAA Championships event of the year. The indoor first-team All-American stuck a 6.72m (22-0.75) measurement on her first jump, marking her second-longest jump of the season and a Nationals qualifying fourth-place finish in the elite West Region field.
In the first running event of the day, Funabashi, Japan senior Kobayashi locked in a new career-best 100m hurdles time of 13.33 seconds to not only qualify for the quarterfinal round on Saturday but also hoist her position in the UTSA record book up to the No. 2 all-time performer in the event.
The Roadrunners’ lone thrower got things started in the day’s opener, as Goldie Australia senior Isabella Simonelli measured 52.84m (173-4) on her second hammer throw attempt, finishing in 44th place. St. Catherine, Jamaica junior Thennelle Williams followed on the track with an 11.55 in the 100m preliminary to finish 45th in the field, then later ran a 24.38 in the 200m for 46th. Also in the 200m, Romford, England junior Kiah Dubarry-Gay notched a season-best 23.42 for 38th, cutting within .09 seconds of a new career mark.
Men’s quarterfinals, triple jump and relays are on the slate for Friday’s events at John McDonnell Field. UTSA’s competitions will open with the 4x100m relay squad of Binion, Brice Chabot, Nabil Tezkratt and Martín Kouyoumdjian, followed by triple jump (Binion, Dylan James, Jacob Jenkins, Jemuel Miller), 400m quarterfinal (Tezkratt) and 200m quarterfinal (Chabot). Men’s events at the meet close on the 4x400m relay, with the UTSA team of Kouyoumdjian, Noah Rhodes, Tezkratt and Mike Roth appearing in the third heat. For the jumpers, the top 12 marks from the four flights will move on to Nationals, while in the running events, the top three times from each heat and the next three fastest times will head to Eugene for the semifinals.
Friday’s competition can be viewed live on ESPN+ and results can be tracked here. For more information about the NCAA West First Round, check out the Meet Information Website.
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