INDIANAPOLIS – The Carson-Newman sprinters performed well on day one of the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, sending one to Saturday's championship heat.
Andre Morrison (St. Catherine, Jamaica) punched his ticket to the men's 60-meter final on Saturday, March 15 at 2:55 p.m. with the second-best preliminary time in the first round of the national meet.
Morrison, who set the Carson-Newman program record twice this season, set a time of 6.65 at the national prelims in heat one of the competition. The time was enough to win his heat, automatically qualifying for the final.
He entered the competition with the second-best seed time at 6.60, just behind Alaska Anchorage's Joshua Caleb who came to Indianapolis with a seed time of 6.59.
Caleb finished heat two in first place to qualify, but he placed third in the prelims. He and Morrison were just hundredths of a second slower than Micah Gremling of Walsh, who set the top qualifying time of 6.64.
Gremling came out of nowhere as he set his personal record by .03 seconds on day one in Indy to claim the top qualifying spot.
Alongside Morrison, Caleb, and Gremling are Northwest Missouri's Dominic Sedlacek, West Liberty's Hunter Patterson, Harding's Olaolu Olatunde, and Catawba's Winfred Porter and Miles Stephens.
Sade De Sousa (Namibia) placed fourth in her preliminary heat with a 7.47. Unfortunately, the time wasn't enough to qualify for Saturday's championship heat. She finished in 11th place nationally.
With the 11th place result, De Sousa earns the distinction of being a Second Team All-American.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Alexis Brown remains the favorite for the 60m crown, setting the Division II Nationals record in her heat with a 7.18.
The Eagles are back in action on Friday, March 14 when Verrol Sam competes in the long jump at noon. He will be the first to jump in flight one of the competition.
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