McKillop, Sealand win heat to advance to finals
GENEVA, Ohio – The pouring rain and winds set the stage for several unpredictable results at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Track & Field program saw six of its athletes compete on the first day.
Vaiva Palunas (SC '17) had a tough day in the discus preliminary, throwing 31.22 meters in her first attempt to come up short for the final round. She threw for an exceptional distance in one of her later attempts, but was ruled foul by the judge, ending her day in the discus. Brandy Smith of Ithaca College won the event for the third consecutive year after throwing for 48.91m. Palunas will compete in two more events during the National Championships.
The men's 10,000 meter final saw two false starts before the race could get underway. Jesse Joseph (HMC '17) finished in 17th place with a time of 31:33.65 in his NCAA Track & Field debut. Over at the women's 1500 meter preliminaries, Bryn McKillop (SC '18) built a considerable lead at the start of the race and managed to maintain her pace until the end. She won her heat by 0.02 seconds ahead of the next runner at 4:32.47 to qualify for the final on Saturday. In the men's side, Joshua Sealand (HMC '17) broke his season record, winning his heat at 3:49.61. Sealand led by several strides for majority of the race, but Isaac Garcia-Cassani tried to catch up to Sealand in the final leg and finished .08 seconds behind him.
Jacque Desmond (SC '19) made her NCAA Track & Field debut in the pole vault final and scored at 3.70m. She finished her event in 21st place.
Tyra Abraham (SC '18) was the last CMS athlete to compete, running in the 200 meter preliminaries. Participating in the second heat, Abraham finished in second at 24.84 seconds, securing a spot in the final on Saturday.
The National Championships will resume tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. PDT as four CMS athletes will compete in their events.
You can watch the events live here.
| Athlete | Event | Time |
| Palunas | Women's Shot Put Final | 10:30 a.m. PDT |
| Abraham | Women's 100 meter Preliminaries | 12:15 p.m. PDT |
| Carmen Mejia (SC '17) | Women's 800 meter Preliminaries | 12:45 p.m. PDT |
| Sealand | Men's 800 meter Preliminaries | 1:00 p.m. PDT |
Results | NCAA Championship Site
By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant
CMS Email Updates
CMS Athletics on Facebook: AthleticsCMS
CMS Athletics on Twitter: AthleticsCMS
CMS Athletics on Instagram: cmsathletics
CMS Athletics YouTube: ClaremontMuddScripps
#goathenas #gostags
