ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Just a normal day for New Mexico Highlands track and field. Just two automatic NCAA qualifiers and six other provisionally qualifiers. All in a day's work at the Don Kirby Tailwind Open at the University of New Mexico Saturday (April 4).
"Anytime you come out of a meet and have three national leaders, you have to say it was a very good day," head coach
Bob DeVries said. "We went in looking to get our season rolling and we loaded up in events. It was a demanding day for all of our athletes and they performed very well."
Sophomore
Shanice McPherson got the ball rolling by blowing by the long jump field by more than 0.40 meters to auto qualify for the NCAA Championships and take over the national lead. All her jumps would have easily won, but her fourth attempt of 6.25 meters took the national lead by 0.07 meters.
As dominate as McPherson was in the long jump, it was senior
Salcia Slack who was not to be denied in the triple jump. Slack took the title by more than a meter, finishing the event with a distance of 13.22 meters. She is the first in the nation to auto qualify in the event and takes over the national lead by more than 0.6 meters. In fact, the mark broke the school record and is the 10th-best distance in NCAA Division II history.
However, McPherson was a member of the 4x100 relay team that provisionally qualified for the NCAA and took over the national lead in that event. Sophomores
Stefania Gyamfi and
Osheen Erskine and junior
Velma Morant rounded out the relay team that finished with a time of 45.76 (45.88 after the altitude adjustment). McPherson provisionally qualified and moved up to 14th nationally in the 100 meters with an altitude-adjusted time of 11.92.
Slack's day was not complete as she provisionally qualified in three other events and moved up into the top-10 nationally in said events. Slack finished second behind an NCAA Division I runner and moved up to sixth in the nation in the 200 with an adjusted time of 24.18. She also provisionally qualified and is 10th in the nation in the 100 hurdles and javelin, winning both events with a time of 14.17 and a distance of 44.44 meters, respectively.
Erskine also provisionally qualified in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.26 to take second behind her teammate. Erskine is 13th in the nation.
However, Las Vegas-natives got into the act for the Cowgirls. Sophomore
Jayme Quintana set a personal best in the 800, winning her heat with a time of 2:18.30. Redshirt freshman
Kristen Montano also turned in a personal best in the 400, finishing right behind Morant in seventh, with a time of 57.74.
"Nice PR's today for Jayme and Kristen. Great to see our homegrown kids doing well," DeVries added.
The Cowgirls split this upcoming week for a pair of competitions. Highlands will take part in the Jim Click Shoot-out next Friday and Saturday (April 9-10) at the University of Arizona and the Mesa Classic in Mesa, Arizona, Saturday (April 10).
