BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - There were feelings of great relief and disappointment on the Abilene Christian sideline following Friday's full afternoon of preliminary races here at the NCAA D-II National Championships hosted by The Birmingham CrossPlex.
Among those relieved to compete another day included freshman sprinter Johnathan Farquharson and senior Chloe Susset, each of who were the last to qualify within their respective races.
Farquharson, a native of the Bahamas, qualified eighth in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.81 seconds that just beat ninth-place finisher Alex Graham of Chadron State by a mere .002 seconds.
Susset also finished eighth in the mile with a season and personal best of 4:53.28 that just edged Grand Valley's Monica Kinney's time by .32 seconds. Western State's Julie Pack was a close 10th with her mark of 4:53.74. Susset's time today was over five seconds faster than her previous season best of 4:58.75, which was recorded at the New Mexico Invitational.
Junior Reyare Thomas qualified eighth in the 60m with a time of 7.47 - her second fastest of 2013 - but produced a greater showing once again in the 200m, where she lowered the school record for the third time this year with a fourth-place time of 23.82.
Thomas first broke Kim Prather's four-year old varsity record of 24.09 at the Armory Collegiate Inviational (23.98) in early February, and then eclipsed her own standard a week later with a 23.95 at the Don Kirby Open.
Vashti Thomas of the Academy of Art recorded today's fastest 200m prelim time of 23.67, while Latoya King of Lincoln is currently seeded first in the 60m at 7.35 seconds.
Thomas' fellow London Olympian, Elea Diarra, finished second in her heat after recording the fifth-best time in the 400m at 54.76 seconds. Diarra's performance was her second fastest of the season following her effort of 54.57 at the Kirby Open.
The top time to beat in the 400m is the 54.03 posted by Samantha Edwards' of Virginia State.
Among the unluckiest ACU competitors today was senior Ayesha Rumble, who came up a hair short in her attempt to earn her first individual all-America title. Rumble today recorded a personal record in the 800m of 2:11.09 to finish eighth, but because she finished third in her heat behind Helen Crofts of Simon Fraser (2:10.16) and Seattle Pacific's McKayla Fricker (2:10.82), she was denied entry into tomorrow's finals.
Rumble's saving grace, however, is that she will still compete Saturday as part of the women's 4x400-meter relay for a third consecutive NCAA Championship, joining Thomas, Shennae Steele and Elea Diarra.
Not getting the chance to run a second time this weekend though is senior Jordan Geary, who placed second in his heat and 13th overall in the 200m at 21.62 seconds - a time that was .30 seconds slower than the one that earned him the LSC title last week. Farquharson also failed to qualify in this event, settling for a 17th-place time of 21.79, while Steele placed 18th in 24.56.
ACU's lone field competitor on Saturday is senior Amanda Ouedraogo, who will attempt to defend her 2012 national title in the indoor triple jump. She lept a personal best and school record distance last week at the LSC Championships of 43 feet-00.50 inches.
In the Thursday night field events, senior Baptist Kerjean placed 11th out of 16 competitors in the weight throw with a top distance of 59-00.75 inches (18.00m). Kerjean - the 2013 Lone Star Conference champion in this event - has now recorded three weight throws of 18.00m or better. His personal best of 60-06.50 (18.45m) was registered at February's Red Raider Open.
