JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Vanderbilt track and field’s Allyria McBride and Falon Spearman punched their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Saturday at the NCAA East Region First Round at Hodges Stadium.
“It was a great meet,” director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas said. “To see two people who just missed [qualifying for nationals] last year come back with the absolute willpower to make it happen this year was great.”
Spearman turned in a time of 13.13 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles to advance to nationals in Eugene. During prelims, she clocked a school record 13.03 seconds to qualify for the quarterfinals. In the same event, Santana Spearman recorded a personal-best time of 13.23 seconds, which is ranked second all-time at Vanderbilt. Devyn Parham ran a 13.39-second race in quarterfinals and matched her PR of 13.26 seconds in prelims.
In the 400-meter hurdles, McBride PRed by 0.4 seconds, registering a time of 55.65 seconds to earn her spot in Eugene. She was the fifth overall finisher in the quarterfinal. F. Spearman clocked a personal best 57.26 seconds in the 400 hurdles, which is the fifth-ranked time in program history. Madyson Wilson notched a 58.13-second time in the quarterfinals and a PR of 58.09 seconds in prelims.
“We had a lot of personal bests, a lot of firsts for Vanderbilt, having six people running individual races,” Thomas said. “It was a good meet for the program. It’s always great when Vanderbilt is going to be represented on the national level. And we have two seasoned hurdlers who are very hungry.”
McBride and F. Spearman will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 11-14.
