TAMPA, Fla. – Norfolk State sophomore 800-meter runner
Martha Bissah became the first Spartan since 2013 to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships Friday with her fifth-place showing at the NCAA East Preliminary Round on Friday afternoon at the University of South Florida.
Bissah placed third in her heat to clinch an automatic spot in next month's NCAA 800m championship field. She moved up from sixth place after 400 meters with a strong showing on the final lap, and clocked a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 3.75 seconds. Her time ended up being the fifth-fastest out of the 24 runners in the quarterfinal round. The top 12 from both the East and West Preliminary Rounds advance to the outdoor nationals at the University of Oregon June 6-9.
The last Spartan female to qualify for the NCAA outdoor nationals was long jumper
Champagne Bell in 2013. Bissah is the first NSU women's track athlete to ever qualify for the Division I nationals in the 800 meters.
Also Friday, sophomore
Jaylen Banks made a strong showing in the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles, but fell short of qualifying for nationals. He finished his race in a time of 51.23 seconds, just .07 seconds away from the personal-best time he ran in Thursday's opening round. He placed 16th out of the 24 quarterfinal participants. Banks was 15th as a freshman in 2017.
Spartan sophomore high jumpers
Jacob Milton and
Garth Warner compete on Saturday, the final day of the regional meet.
