Nine Individuals, Two Relays Qualify For NCAA Indoor Championships

INDIANAPOLIS — Nine individuals and two relay teams will represent the Tennessee track & field programs next week at the 2023 NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships, as the final accepted entries were released Tuesday night. The nation’s top collegians will compete in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Friday and Saturday, March 10-11 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
 
To qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships, athletes must rank inside the top 16 nationally in their respective events while relays must rank inside the top 12. In total, Tennessee will send 17 athletes to New Mexico to compete in 13 events.

Javonte Harding • Men’s 200m

Harding will look to defend his 2022 title in the 200-meter dash next weekend after winning the event for North Carolina A&T last season with a time of 20.46. Since transferring to Rocky Top this season, the Prince George, Virginia, native owns a season-best of 20.47 and enters the meet as the No. 6 seed nationally.

 

Emmanuel Bynum • Men’s 400m

Bynum ran the No. 2 time in school history in the 400-meter dash earlier this winter, clocking in at 45.67 seconds at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational for the No. 7 mark in the country this season. The Memphis native will make his third-straight trip to the indoor national championships after qualifying in the 4×400-meter relay in 2021 and 2022 in addition to punching his ticket in the 200m last year.

 

Yaseen Abdalla • Men’s 3000m

Abdalla secured his NCAA qualifying mark in late January, running a time of 7:42.23 in the 3,000-meter at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic. The reigning NCAA DMR Champion for Texas last season and runner-up in last week’s SEC 5,000-meter final, Abdalla’s 3k personal-best ranks him No. 8 on the all-time collegiate charts.

 

Dylan Jacobs • Men’s 3000m, 5000m

Jacobs will cap his historic indoor campaign running a double at the NCAA Championships in the 3,000- and 5,000-meter competitions. The eight-time All-American and reigning 10k national champion enters the meet as the top seed in the 5k with an American Collegiate Record mark of 13:11.01 set at the Terrier Classic, while his lifetime-best of 7:36.89 in the 3k represents the No. 2 mark in collegiate history behind Northern Arizona’s Drew Bosley.

 

Tennessee is one of four schools with multiple entries in the men’s 3,000-meter run.

 

Jesse Henderson • Men’s 60m Hurdles

The SEC’s fastest 60-meter hurdler this season, Henderson locked up…