TF2K22: Hall Charges to NCAAs

The top women east of the Mississippi River in the United States went to battle for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, May 26 and May 28 at the East Preliminary. The meet that saw pouring rain on the opening day and sunshine on the final day in Bloomington, Indiana had some outstanding athletes that kept spectators entertained despite the conditions.

Anna Hall of Florida shined in the 400-meter hurdles. The woman who will be competing at the NCAA Championships as the nation's top heptathlete, also qualified for the national meet in the 400-meter hurdles with a top time at the East Preliminary. Hall advanced out of the first round, May 26, with a 56.25 finish in a heat that included eight other hurdlers. Two others from that heat, Selena Wright of UCF and Dinedy Denis of Albany, also advanced with times of 58.24 and 58.33 respectively.

Twenty-four hurdlers in total competed in the quarterfinal round, May 28, where Hall crossed the finish line at 55.25 in heat three. Auburn's Asia Jinks and Coastal Carolina's Shani'a Bellamy were second and third in the heat as the two also qualified for the NCAA Championships at 56.63 and 56.65.

Nine other hurdlers qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles including Masai Russel of Kentucky (55.36), Duke's Lauren Hoffman (55.91), LSU's Garriel White (56.73), Howard's Jessica Wright (57.26), K'Ja Talley of Purdue (57.44), Ohio State's Chanler Robinson (57.63), Florida's Vanessa Watson (57.65) South Florida's Sanique Walker (57.79) and Louisville's Katie Martin (57.93).

The 400 meters was a battle as Vanderbilt's Taiya Shelby recorded the top time in the first round finishing heat five at 51.46, which was the best time that she'd ever run. She outperformed favorites Alexis Holmes of Kentucky (51.65) and Florida's Talitha Diggs (51.82) in the opening round. Both Holmes and Diggs won their respective heats in round one.

In the quarterfinal Shelby ran another personal best of 51.45 but that was the fourth best time that qualified for the NCAA Championships. Diggs ran her season's best time of 51.22 in heat one of the quarterfinals, earning the top finish of the meet. Holmes followed that at 51.24 in a win in heat three where she slightly edged out Ziyah Holman of Michigan who had the third fastest 400 meters time of the meet at 51.25, a personal best.

Coastal Carolina's Jermaisha Arnold rose up the ranks with a top five finish of 51.54 which is her top career time. The sophomore, who won the 400 meters indoor title of the Sun Belt Conference, was 11th in the opening round at 52.24. Other NCAA Championship qualifiers in the 400 meters were North Carolina A&T's Delecia McDuffie (51.58), Florida's Taylor Manson (51.77), Makenzie Dunmore (51.90), Miami's Moriah Oliveira (52.04), Megan Moss of Kentucky (52.07), Mekennze Kelley of Coastal Carolina (52.07) and Caitlyn Bobb of UMBC (52.40).

Eleven high jumpers met the NCAA Championships qualifying mark of 1.84 meters and two others had to face off for the final spot. Indiana's Mahogany Jenkins edged out North Carolina A&T's Kenady Wilson at 1.81 to claim become the 12th qualifier.

In flight one Villanova's Sanaa Barnes, South Carolina's Rachel Glenn and LSU's Byagoa Bayak did not miss a single jump as the trio. Barnes and Bayak started at 1.71, while Glenn began at 1.76. Cornell's Marquerite Lorenzo missed one jump before qualifying at 1.84. LSU's Morgan Smalls gritted her way to qualify at 1.84 after missing one jump at 1.76, two jumps at 1.81 and another at 1.84.

In flight two, Wake Forest's Emma Soderstrom and Middle Tennessee State's Abigail Kwarteng were perfect in their jumps. Kwarteng started at 1.76, while Soderstrom began at 1.71. Georgia's Elena Kulichenko missed just one of her attempts which was at 1.84, before advancing to the NCAA Championships. Her teammate Jamari Drake also qualified on her final chance at 1.84, after missing her first two attempts at the height. Ball State's Charity Griffith and McNeese State's Sakari Famous also advanced on their final attempts. Griffith had one miss at the previous height of 1.81 and Famous missed once at both 1.76 and 1.81.

North Carolina A&T's Paula Salmon had the fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles at 12.78 during the East Preliminary. Salmon advanced to the NCAA Championships during the outdoor season for the second time in her career after first appearing in last season.

Salmon, who ran in heat three of the quarterfinals, finished ahead of LSU's Alia Armstrong who clocked in of 12.82 in heat one. Heat two was taken by Masai Russell of Kentucky at 12.89. South Carolina's Destinee Rocker was behind Russell in heat two and in the overall round with a fourth best time of 13.08. Last year's NCAA runner-up Rayniah Jones of UCF was fifth in the quarterfinals at 13.12. She competed in heat one along with Armstrong. For those who may be alarmed by Jones' fifth place finish, after nearly winning an NCAA gold medal last year, the UCF All-American fifth at last year's East Preliminary as well.

Other NCAA Championships qualifiers in the 100-meter hurdles are Trishauna Hemmings of Clemson (13.13), Yasmin Brooks of Penn State (13.21), South Florida's Shaneylix Davila (13.22). Aasia Laurencin of Michigan (13.28), Ohio State's Alexus Pyles (13.29), Coastal Carolina's Shani'a Bellamy (13.32) and Alexis Glasco, also of Coastal Carolina (13.33).