GREENSBORO, NC— Senior's Travis Coleman and Keary Simms are headed to Bloomington, IN next week for the NCAA First Round East Site Outdoor Track & Field Regional which will be held from May 26-28.
Coleman secured a spot in the NCAA First Round after winning last weekend's NC A&T Invitational with a new school shot put record of 55 feet 11 inches. Coleman's record toss moved him up eight spots on the East regional list to secure his qualifying status. The throw, which came on the final qualifying weekend for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, topped his previous personal best by nine inches.
Simms, a Big South Conference Champion in the 110 meter hurdles, joins Coleman and will enter the NCAA Meet with a seed time of 14.18.
“We are so excited to have the guys represent Winthrop at the highest level of competition,” said Winthrop head track & field coach Ben Paxton. “Under the new format, we like the idea of competing against the SEC, ACC, and Big Ten head-to-head. The Eagles have shown that they do very well on the national stage. Hopefully we will be able to replicate what we have done in the past.”
The Eagles will leave next Tuesday for the competition with hopes of advancing to the Final round in Des Moines, IA in June.
Coleman and Simms will try to finish among the top 12 finishers at the East site which would qualify them for a trip to the finals. Last year, Ashley Howard finished 9th in the Discus competition where she went on to finish 17th in the NCAA Final. Other Winthrop Athletes that have advanced through the First Round to the finals include Octavia Goode 100 meter dash (2004), Matt Elliott 1500 meter run and Jason Williams High Jump (2008).
