GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Fire did what they needed for qualifiers in every event. Southeastern University advanced athletes in each of the four NAIA Indoor Track and Field Nationals Thursday preliminary events.
Ashlyn Poulin led the Fire charge as she crossed the line in third place in the 3000-meter RaceWalk women's preliminaries in 16:05.81 for an automatic qualifying time. Marlee Irvin and Joselyn Rogers joined Poulin into the Friday event finals in 11th (16:50.80) and 12th (17:28.58) as two of the other best four times.
Both the women's 4x800-meter relay and the men's 4x400-meter relay teams secured eighth in their races and advanced to the finals of the relays.
The Fire women's group of Jillian Blaser, Natalie Rohm, Jaa'Ln McBride, Maci Mills, Grace Feder and Jadyn DeVerna with a time of 9:13.65 for eighth.
For the men, the quartet of Kevin Davis Jr, James Williamson III, Joseph Taylor and Davien Worrels also were eighth in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:12.42.
In the men's side of the 3,000-meter RaceWalk, TJ Sanders crossed the finish line in 14:14.80 for 11th and captured one of the four best spots outside the top eight to advance. Sanders' teammate Kodi Quimby narrowly missed joining him with a time of 15:11.53.
SEU returns for the second day of nationals starting on Friday morning at 10:45 a.m. in the Alachua County Sports and Events Center
