LEXINGTON, Ky. – On Thursday at the NCAA East First Round, three Commodores punched their tickets to nationals and three advanced to their event quarterfinals. Two school records were also broken.
Falon Spearman advanced to Saturday’s 100-meter hurdles quarterfinals with a time of 13.32 seconds, a personal best and a school record. In the same event, Santana Spearman clocked a personal best 13.52 seconds to move to No. 4 on the Vanderbilt all-time performers list.
In the 1,500 meters, Julia Rosenberg ran her second-fastest time this season, 4:15.78, to move on to the quarterfinal.
Punching her ticket to nationals, freshman Lena Gooden broke her own school record in the long jump with an opening mark of 6.19 meters. She placed 10th overall and first among freshmen.
In the shot put, Veronica Fraley and Sarah Omoregie both qualified for the NCAA Championships, recording respective marks of 17.42 and 16.83 meters. Fraley finished fourth, while Omoregie came in ninth in the competition.
Allyria McBride turned in a heat-winning time of 56.60 seconds to automatically advance to the 400-meter hurdles quarterfinals. Her time was the fifth fastest of the day.
On Saturday, Vanderbilt will look for more qualifications to nationals in Eugene, Oregon. Field events begin at noon CT with the discus, and running events start at 4 p.m. CT with the 4×100-meter relay. The meet is streamed on ESPN+, and live results are available online.
Vanderbilt Schedule – Saturday
12 p.m. – Discus first round (Fraley)
4 p.m. – 4x100m relay quarterfinals (Gooden, Bishop, Escobar, McBride)
4:15 p.m. – 1,500 meters quarterfinals (Rosenberg)
5:15 p.m. – 100mH quarterfinals (F. Spearman)
6:25 p.m. – 400mH quarterfinals (McBride)
*Times listed in CT.