Chukwuma earns NCAA outdoor berths in two sprints

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Texas Tech sprinter Rosemary Chukwuma qualified for the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in two events with her performances Saturday at the NCAA West Preliminary meet and hurdler Demisha Roswell continued her strong season.

Chukwuma ran the second-fastest time in the 100 meters at 10.82 seconds and the seventh fastest in the 200 at 22.68. Both were outside the legal wind parameter of 2.0 meters per second, and both came in the quarterfinal rounds.

West Preliminary competition at Arkansas and East Preliminary competition at Indiana both concluded Saturday. At each of the two regional meets, 48 athletes in each event are narrowed to 12 who qualify for the NCAA championships scheduled for June 8-11 in Eugene, Oregon.

The Tech women are No. 2 in the latest performance-based ranking by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Among teammates joining Chukwuma at Hayward Field will be Ruta Lasmane and Ruth Usoro in the triple jump, Roswell in the 100-meter hurdles and 1,600-meter relay team of Nayanna Dubarry-Gay, Aneesa Scott, Kiah Dubarry-Gay and Knowledge Omovoh.

Roswell won the first quarterfinal of the 100 hurdles in a wind-legal 12.78, and it was the second fastest time among 23 starters in three sections. The junior from Jamaica broke the Big 12 meet record two weeks ago with a wind-legal 12.44.

She transferred to Tech from New Mexico Junior College, where she twice won NJCAA 60-meter hurdles titles indoors and won a 100-meter hurdles title outdoors.

In the triple jump, Lasmane got third, going a wind-assisted 45 feet, 1/2 inch, and Usoro was 10th with a wind-assisted 43-10 3/4. Usoro swept the NCAA triple-jump titles indoors and outdoors in 2021.

Lasmane and Usoro both will double at the national meet. They and Monae' Nichols qualified on Thursday in the long jump.

The Tech women's 1,600-meter relay team ran a season-best 3 minutes, 32.75 seconds. They advanced automatically with a top-three finish in the round and had the ninth-fastest time out of 23 teams that started in the three heats.

Earlier Saturday, Tech's Sidney Sapp clinched a trip to Eugene in the high jump, and Malin Smith and Seasons Usual made it in the discus throw. On Thursday, Chloe Wall clinched her first trip to the NCAA outdoor by clearing the top height in the pole vault.

NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY 

TRACK & FIELD MEET

at John McDonnell Field, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Saturday's Late Results

Texas Tech and area athletes only

E—qualified for NCAA outdoor championships June 8-11 in Eugene, Oregon

WOMEN

Field Events

Triple jump: 3. E-Ruta Lasmane, 45 feet, 0 1/2 inch (wind: 2.3 meters per second); 10. E-Ruth Usoro, 43-10 3/4 (wind: 2.5 mps); 14. Onaara Obamuwagun, 42-11 1/2 (wind: 1.6 mps); 18. Brya Brewer, 42-8 (wind: 1.4 mps); 23. Deborah Acquah, Texas A&M (formerly Western Texas College), 42-2 (wind: 1.4 mps).

Running Events

100-meter hurdles: 2. E-Demisha Roswell, 12.78 seconds (wind: 1.8 mps).

100: 2. E-Rosemary Chukwuma, 10.82 (wind: 2.6 mps); 19. Virginia Kerley, 11.24 (wind: 2.6 mps).

400: 18. Knowledge Omovoh, 53.46; 23. Nayanna Dubarry-Gay, 54.28.

800: 17. Michaela Lewis, 2:05.85; 21. Joanna Archer, 2:07.13.

400 hurdles: 20: Sylvia Schulz, 59.55.

200: 7. E-Rosemary Chukwuma, 22.68 (wind: 2.2 mps); 17. Kiah Dubarry-Gay, 23.24 (wind: 2.2 mps).

1,600 relay: 9. E-Texas Tech, 3:32.75.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Track and field: Rosemary Chukwuma earns NCAA outdoor berths in two sprints