Bethune-Cookman returns to the second day of competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of the University of Arkansas. With three high-potential athletes competing, B-CU came away with two final qualifications on the day.
In the 100m Hurdles, Tavia Burke took her spot in the final heat and made a solid go at it. She was out of the blocks fast and over the first five sets of hurdles ahead of the rest of the field, which included national leader Kristi Castlin of Virginia Tech. Mid-race, Burke's back foot tipped a hurdle and broke her stride, pushing her way back in the field and out of qualification range, finishing in a time of 14.18.
"[Tavia] was winning at hurdle number six and crashed it with her trail leg, which cost her advancement to the next round. Running and leading against strong competition, she was on her way to a PR (personal record) without a doubt," said coach Garfield Ellenwood II of Burke's performance. "She’s still one of the nation’s best and she can learn from this as she continues her career beyond B-CU."
In the 110m Hurdles, Ronnie Ash showed up and got the job done in the preliminaries, beginning his journey toward claiming a national title in the outdoor 110m Hurdles. Ash topped his heat easily, leading by .37 seconds, finishing in a time of 13.47. While finishing on top of his heat, Ash also made a strong time against the overall field, finishing 2nd in the preliminaries, just .06 behind South Carolina's Jason Richardson.
"As a coach, I was very pleased with Ronnie’s race; technically sound like we’ve trained," commented Ellenwood. "He’s gotten through the first step in getting to the finals. That’s the goal, run technically, get to the finals, and then go for broke."
In Thursday's final event for B-CU, Joel Redhead made waves in the 200m Dash preliminaries, finishing 2nd in his heat and 9th overall with a time of 20.99. His race in the prelims qualified him for the semifinals, run at 7:45 p.m. CST on Thursday.
"Joel was nervous about the first one out, he needed to get that out of the way," said Ellenwood of Redhead's opening performance. "Now he’s warm and more confident and he’s ready to go for the semifinal."
Returning for the semifinal later in the evening, Redhead really made his mark, stepping up to slice .5 off his time and take 2nd in his heat and 4th in the overall field for the finals. Redhead finished with a time of 20.49 in the semifinals.
Following the semifinal race for Redhead, Coach Ellenwood was ecstatic, "I’m very proud of him," Coach beamed, "I told him if he executed the first half of the race like I know he could run in the 20.4 range. It was a strong race. He broke his country (Grenada) record again, earned another personal record, and made it to the finals; that’s all we can ask for until tomorrow."
The Wildcats return to Day Three of the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Friday with a semifinal appearance for Ronnie Ash, currently working with the second-fastest time at the meet for the 110m Hurdles.