JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Coppin State's track & field teams will send four individuals to the NCAA East Preliminaries, held at University of North Florida on May 24-27.
Latifa Ali and
Kimani Alphonse are set to run in the 400m dash with
Jeff Hammond and
James Bell competing in the long jump and high jump, respectively.
To qualify individually for NCAA Regional competition, they must be ranked in the top 48 within the region in their respective event.
Ali is making her second-straight appearance at NCAA Regionals after placing 16
th in the 400m dash, 30
th in the 200m dash and 14
th in the 4x400m Relay last season. A junior from Kumasi, Ghana, Ali is undefeated in the 400m dash outdoors this season after winning the event at the MEAC Championships on May 11 in 52.99. Ali has a personal record of 52.60 in the event, set at the Last Chance Indoor Qualifier at Boston University. Outdoors, Ali's personal best is 52.78 which she ran at Regionals last season.
Alphonse was part of the 4x400m Relay that qualified for Regionals last season and will make her open event debut next week. A junior from Laborie, St. Lucia, Alphonse took second to Ali in the 400m dash at the MEAC Championships in a personal-record 53.70 which is the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Making his NCAA Regionals debut is Hammond, who qualified for the event with a leap of 7.67m (25' 2") to win the South Florida Invitational on April 8. A junior from Kumasi, Ghana, Hammond's mark is a wind-legal school-record. Hammond also has registered a leap of 7.80m (25' 7.25") at the 2022 Weems Baskin Relays.
Bell is also making his NCAA Regionals debut after clearing 2.07m (6' 9.5") to win the high jump at Maryland's Kehoe Twilight Meet on May 5. A junior from Newark, N.J., Bell took second at the MEAC Championships (2.01m) and IC4A Championships (2.04m) earlier this month. His mark is second in CSU history.
The men's long jump will be held at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, May 24 with the men's high jump at 2:30 pm on Friday, May 26. On the women's side, the first round of the 400m dash is set for 7:25 pm on Thursday, May 25 with the quarterfinals on Saturday, May 27 at 6:50 pm.
