Five Florida State student-athletes will compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. on March 10-11. The championships will stream live on ESPN+.
The championships will include just the top 16 competitors nationally in individual events. All individual running events will have two semifinal heats with the top eight advancing to the championship race.
Junior Ismael Kone will enter the finals with the top position among the Seminole entries. The Richardson, Texas native has the second fastest qualifying time of 6.61 in the men’s 60 meter field. Kone is undefeated in the 60m this season and was the ACC Champion. His semifinal heat will start at 9:15 EST Friday with the championship race at 9:10 p.m. EST on Saturday.
Jeremiah Davis, the 2023 ACC Indoor Championship MVP in field events, is also in an outstanding position to contend for a national championship having held the world’s best jump for nearly two months. The senior from Lehigh Acres, Fla. enters the meet with the nation’s third-best mark in the men’s long jump at 8.28m. His triple jump qualifying leap of 16.44 is eighth among the championship field. The long jump competition will begin at 9:00 p.m. EST Friday, and the triple jump Saturday at 8:45 EST.
Amir Willis, a junior from Cincinnati, Ohio, qualified in the 200 meter dash with a time of 20.51 set in a runner-up finish at the ACC Championships. The time places him eighth in the NCAA field. His heat is scheduled for Friday at 10:25 p.m. with the finals taking place Saturday at 9:50 p.m. EST.
Freshman sensation Dajaz Defrand, who in just four meets has become the second-fastest 200 meter runner in FSU women’s history and fourth fastest Nole ever in the 60 meter, will race in both events at NCAAs. One of just three freshmen to make the NCAA field in either event, Defrand’s time of 7.19 in the 60m is tied with four other qualifiers for 10th best in the field. She is 13th in the 200m field with a time of 23.00. Her heat of the 60m prelims will start at 6:15 EST Friday and the 200m heat will start at 7:25 EST.
The Seminole women’s team has battled injuries throughout the indoor season including Victoria Josse who was injured in the triple jump at the ACC Championships and will have to withdraw from the national championships. Her lifetime best leap would have been among the top five in the NCAA field.
If you don’t have an ESPN+ subscription, you can…