Women's Track & Field | May 25, 2018
TAMPA BAY, Fla. – Western Michigan redshirt sophomore Gabrielle Collins has punched her ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship after tying for fifth in the long jump at the NCAA East Preliminaries at the University of South Florida on Thursday night.
Collins jumped an unofficial distance of 20' 5.75" (6.24 meters), reaching the distance on her first jump. Collins then had to wait due to a long severe weather delay. Another delay followed after she had finished her three jumps due to an issue with the laser measuring device, which resulted in the unofficial distances. The official distances will be released on Friday morning.
"Once you get past all the technical snafus, she did a great job," said head coach Kelly Lycan. "We knew there would be weather coming and we thought it would be an advantage to be in the first flight. Normally it's a disadvantage because all the best jumpers are in the later flight and already know the distances they need to beat. We were really trying to get our first jump on the board before the delay. Gabby did a great job and popped a big one on her first jump."
With her distance, Collins inches closer to the school record of 20' 6.50' by Ashley Hunault. Hunault is also the last jumper to make it to the NCAA Championships.
Wrapping up their seasons on the day were Erin Dowd, Audrey Oswalt and Sarah Anderson. Dowd ran a solid time of 1:00.14 in the 400-meter hurdles but fell shy of the top 24 needed to move on to Friday's quarterfinals. Oswalt fell shy of qualifying in the javelin after throwing 130' 7". Anderson also missed out of the quarterfinals in the 800-meter run after running 2:08.26.
"Everybody down here for us was basically a sophomore and first-timers at the NCAA Regionals," Lycan added. "It is great experience for them and they can see there isn't much difference between them and those going to nationals. And for Gabby, there's no difference because she's going."
The NCAA Championships begin June 6 at the legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.
