Rock Island, Ill. – Members of the Tiger men's and women's track & field teams competed at the Augustana Midwest Twilight on Thursday in the final chance to qualify for next week's NCAA Championships.
The 4x100-meter relay team of Legend Grigsby (Houston, Texas / Cypress Creek), BJ Stewart (Shreveport, La. / Woodlawn), Brian Rainey (Cedar Hill, Texas / Cedar Hill), and Sean Majors (Fredericksburg, Texas / Fredericksburg) broke the Trinity record in the event for the second time this season, finishing with a time of 41.15 seconds in today's meet. That time moves them into a tie for the 18th-fastest in NCAA III this season.
Jordyn White (St. Louis, Mo. / Lutheran North) had her best jump of the 2022 season in the women's long jump, reaching 7.23 meters for a second-place finish that is also tied for the 21st-best in the nation this year. Majors also finished second in the long jump with a mark of 7.23 meters, which is the 17th time in his career to eclipse 7.00 meters. He came into the meet tied for fifth in the country this year with a school-record mark of 7.52 meters.
Joy Areola (Tomball, Texas / Rosehill Christian School) set a new personal record with her distance of 11.83 meters in the triple jump that earned her a third-place finish. That mark not only moves her to third on Trinity's all-time list, but is also tied for the 23rd-longest distance in NCAA III this season. Kyra Stafford (Albuquerque, N.M. / Hope Christian) was 12th in the triple jump after hitting 10.83 meters.
Stewart finished 12th in the 100-meter dash prelims earlier in the afternoon, hitting the line in 10.95 seconds to secure his eighth time of under 11 seconds this season. Grant Bishop (Seguin, Texas / Navarro) finished with a time of 51.89 seconds in the 400-meter dash, which is the fourth-fastest time of his career and his second-best this season. Tanner Lacy (Oak Ridge North, Texas / Oak Ridge) finished sixth in the pole vault after clearing a height of 4.50 meters. That is just the fifth time in Lacy's career that he has reached 4.50 meters or better.
The final event of the night for Trinity was the men's 4x400-meter relay, which consisted of Majors, Ethan Gilmore (Houston, Texas / Lamar), Josue Parra (Niles, Ill. / Maine East), and Justin Johnson (Houston, Texas / Manvel). The team won their heat, finished eighth overall, and set a new personal record with a time of 3:16.02. That time moves them up into the top 30 in the country heading into today.
Coach Speak
"We had a great meet today," said Head Coach Marcus Whitehead. "A school record in the 400 relay. Multiple season bests in the horizontal jumps and a great race in the 4x400. We will see who gets in after declarations close. Very proud of how they went out and competed at this meet especially during the stress of finals."
Up Next
Today was the final qualification day for the NCAA Championships, which will be held next week in Geneva, Ohio. The official selections for the national meet will be announced by the NCAA on Saturday, May 21.
