Courtesy Lincoln University Athletics
JEFFERSON CITY, MO. (Missouri Sports Magazine) – Twenty-three members of the Lincoln women's and men's indoor track & field teams have been selected to represent the Blue Tigers at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships. Twelve athletes from the women's team and 11 from the men will compete at the national championship meet, which will be hosted by the University of Colorado-Pueblo in the Neta and Eddie De Rose Thunderbowl in Pueblo, Colo. from May 24-26.
Thirteen athletes will compete in multiple events at the NCAA Championships, led by Tamara Keane, who will represent Lincoln in four events. Keane will be a member of both the 4×100-meter relay team (along with Nickeisha Beaumont, Latoya King and Toni-Ann Moore) and the 4×400-meter relay team (with Yanique Haye, Dereka Kelly and Michelle Cumberbatch). The 4×100 team enters with a time of 45.08, the best in the nation, while the 4×400 team is ranked second (3:38.16). Keane will also compete in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash.
Beaumont and King will each compete in three events, including one apiece in which they currently have the country's best times. Beaumont leads the nation in the long jump (6.38m) and will also compete in the 100-meter dash. The owner of Division II's best time in the 100-meter dash happens to be King, who will also be competing in the 200-meter dash.
Haye will also enter the championships with a nationally-best time, as she leads the country in the 400-meter hurdles (57.70). Also competing in that event will be Cumberbatch, who is third in the country with a time of 58.75, and Ladonna Richards, who is eighth at 59.59. Richards will also compete in the 100-meter hurdles, as will Shakeisha Miller and Anna-Kay James. Twishana Williams, the co-high point scorer at the MIAA Championships, will also represent Lincoln in two events, including the 800-meter run and the 1,500-meter run.
Joining Beaumont in the field events will be Miller and Sherikaye Campbell. Miller will be competing in the heptathalon and the long jump while Campbell will take part in the high jump.
Two members of the LU men's team will compete in three events apiece, including Sabiel Anderson, who leads the nation in the 400-meter hurdles (51.03). Anderson will also compete in the 110-meter hurdles and will join with Michael Ashley, Rashawn Hugg and Terrel Cotton to run in the 4×400-meter relay.
Also competing in three events is Romel Lewis, who, along with Ravel Grey, Devin Hill and Joshua Manuel, will enter the championships with the nation's best mark in the 4×100-meter relay (39.57). Lewis will also compete in the 400-meter hurdles, which he'll enter with Division II's fourth-best time (51.61), and the 100-meter dash, in which he is tied for the second-best mark in the country (10.29).
Grey, who currently is tied with Lewis for the nation's second-best time in the 100-meter dash (10.29), leads three members of the Lincoln men's team who will compete in two events. The others include Ashley, who will run in the 400-meter dash, and Cotton, who will race in the 200-meter dash. The other Blue Tigers who qualified for the national championships are Jermaine Blake, who will represent LU in the 800-meter run, and Aaron Wilmore, who will compete in the 110-meter hurdles after posting the country's fourth-best time in that event (13.99) at last weekend's Sam Williams Twilight Qualifier.
Lincoln's women's team will be sending the second-most athletes to compete at the NCAA Championships of any participating school, as the 12 selected Blue Tigers trail only Grand Valley State, which is sending 17. The 11 athletes qualifying for the men's team ties Abilene Christian and Pittsburg State for the second-most by a single squad. Three teams will be sending 14 athletes to the NCAA Championships, including Ashland, St. Augustine's and Adams State.
Both Blue Tiger teams are coming off successful showings at the 2012 MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The Lincoln women's team won the league title for the second straight season while the men's team finished third in the conference. Both teams also sent athletes to compete in last year's NCAA Championships, with the women finishing as the national runner-up while the men finished third in the country.
*Information provided by the Lincoln University Athletic Department.
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Category: College And University Athletics - Men, College And University Athletics - Women, Lincoln Blue Tigers - Track and Field/Cross Country (Men), Lincoln Blue Tigers - Womens Track and Field/ CC, Lincoln University Blue Tigers (Men), Lincoln University Blue Tigers (Women), Top Stories
