LOS ANGELES, CA – A massive effort by All-American
D'Andra Morris headlined a huge day for the University of Mary men's and women's track & field teams at the Oxy Invitational. Taking advantage of perfect weather conditions at Occidental College in California, the Marauders posted six NCAA Division II provisional qualifying marks in their final meet before the start of championship season.
Morris crushed the competition in the triple jump as she shattered her own school record with an astonishing mark of 13.17 meters. The 2022 NCAA Division II indoor triple jump national champion, the senior from Kingston, Jamaica, set the UMary record with an effort of 13.00 meters at the 2021 outdoor national championships on her way to a runner-up finish. She exceeded her previous best twice on the day, connecting for a mark of 13.08 meters on her first attempt before again breaking her record on her fourth and final effort.
Today's monumental mark of 13.17 meters places Morris atop the national leaderboard in the triple jump. Currently the second-best mark in NCAA D2 is 12.86 meters.
Morris and
Arianna Passeri both produced their best efforts of the season in the long jump and may have secured them both spots in the national championships with their NCAA provisional qualifying efforts. Morris placed third with a mark of 5.96 meters. With an effort of 5.94 meters Passeri claimed fourth. The duo now both rank in the nation's top 20.
Samoya Neil finished fifth in the long jump with a top mark of 5.74 meters. Earlier this season Neil recorded a mark of 5.96 meters to match Morris for UMary's best effort in 2022.
Morris continued her big day with a second place finish in the high jump with a top mark of 1.63 meters. She just missed the NCAA qualifying standard by .03 meters.
Courtney Dombrowski ran the 800 in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2:11.70 to finish 4
th. Her personal best effort ranks amount the top 40 in the nation.
Morgan Hertz posted her best effort of the season in the 400 meter hurdles. The sophomore cleared the barriers in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:01.45 to place second.
Danalee Brock claimed third in 1:02.61, just missing her best time.
All-American
Tereza Bolibruch placed third in the 100 meter hurdles. Her NCAA provisional qualifying time of 14.01 seconds was just .08 seconds behind the clocking of Marie-Jeanne Ourega of Academy of Art, who ranks 4
th in NCAA Division II this season. Bolibruch is currently ranked 14
th in the country.
Ava Grimm finished fifth in the 400 meter run with a time of 56.92 seconds.
In the 100 meter dash,
Arianna Passeri and
Samoya Neil posted their best times of the season, both finishing in 11.97 seconds. In an event filled with professional runners, the pair finished 6-7.
Neil claimed 7
th in the 200 meter, finishing in 24.82. Bolibruch placed 12
th in 25.50 seconds.
For the UMary men,
Isaac Huntington and
Akil Howell ran stride for stride with one another in the 400 meter dash. Huntington, the defending Northern Sun champion, edged Howell, a freshman, by .03 seconds. Huntington crossed the finish line in 48.66 seconds with Howell clocked in 48.69 seconds.
Howell followed with his best mark in the 200. The freshman blazed his way to a time of 21.86 seconds. He placed 10
th overall but was second among collegiate runners. Huntington finished 20
th in a time of 22.57 seconds.
The Marauders next compete at the Northern Sun men's and woman's outdoor track & field championships beginning Thursday, May 12, and running through Saturday, May 14, in Aberdeen, SD.
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