May 25, 2017
Day One Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
AUSTIN, Texas (SMU) –
Chelsea Francis continued her impressive rookie campaign as the freshman ran 11.38 (+3.8 mps) seconds Thursday in the first round of the 100-meter dash on day one of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminary Round.
Running in the first heat, Francis shot out of the blocks in the lane three as she was next to UNLV's Destiny Smith-Barnett, who has the second-fastest time in the country at 10.97 (+3.0 mps). Francis placed third behind Smith-Barnett (11.06) and Kiara Parker (11.20) of Arkansas to automatically qualify for Friday's quarterfinal.
Francis, who set The American 100m record (11.34) at the conference championship, was one of five freshman to advance to the quarterfinal. She has the 20th fastest time out of 24 competitors heading into the quarterfinal. The 100m quarterfinal is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
Senior
Holly Archer closed out her storied career for the Mustangs after failing to advance in the 1,500-meters. The reigning 1,500m conference champion placed 10th in her heat and 36th overall with a time of 4 minutes, 34.93 seconds in the first round.
In addition to Francis competing in the 100m, sophomore
Latessa Johnson and senior
Shanoah Souza hit the track Friday for the last two events of the day in the 200-meter dash and the 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Johnson is slated to start the first round of the 200m at 7:30 p.m. and Souza will run the steeple quarterfinal at 8:20 p.m. The 200m quarterfinal is scheduled for Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
The top-12 qualifiers in each event out of both preliminary rounds will compete in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 7-10 in Eugene, Oregon.
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