NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt women’s track and field team will hit the road for Austin, Texas, to compete in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend.
A total of six student-athletes will compete in seven events at the meet. Veronica Fraley, Beatrice Juskeviciute, Allyria McBride, Brooke Overholt, Taiya Shelby and Jada Sims punched their tickets to nationals by ranking in the top 24 in the heptathlon or finishing in the top 12 in each event at the NCAA East Region Preliminary Round.
Fraley qualified in the shot put and discus by winning both events at the NCAA East Regional. She threw 17.77 meters in the shot put, a personal best, and 56.51 meters in the discus. Fraley was crowned SEC champion in the discus after throwing 62.84 meters, resetting the Vanderbilt and Bernie Moore Track Stadium facility records. She finished fourth in the shot put at the SEC Championships, reaching the 17.23-meter mark.
Juskeviciute scored a personal best 6,079 points in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships, winning the event and resetting the program record. During the meet, she PRed in the long jump with a mark of 6.03 meters. Her heptathlon score ranks third in the NCAA entering the championship meet. At the Mt. SAC Relays, Juskeviciute scored 6,073 points to finish third and recorded personal-best times in the 100-meter hurdles (13.62 seconds) and the 800 meters (2:16.59).
At the NCAA East Regional, McBride finished second among freshmen and 12th overall in the 400-meter hurdles quarterfinals (57.67 seconds) to qualify for the national championships. She turned in a personal-best time of 56.72 seconds at the SEC Outdoor Championships where she finished eighth in the event prelims and seventh (57.71 seconds) in the final.
In the same event, Overholt finished fifth (56.98 seconds) in the quarterfinals at the NCAA East Regional. At the SEC Championships, she clocked a personal-best time of 56.64 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles prelims and 56.98 seconds in the final to finish fifth overall.
Shelby won her heats during the first round and quarterfinals of the 400 meters at the NCAA East Regional. She placed second overall in the first round with a time of 52.26 seconds and finished ninth in the quarterfinals with a time of 52.26 seconds. At the conference championships, Shelby recorded a personal best during the 400-meter prelims, crossing the finish line in 51.43 seconds.
After a fourth-place finish in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships, Sims earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She totaled 5,638 points, which is a career best, and PRed in four of seven events—high jump, shot put, long jump and javelin. Earlier this season, she placed second in the heptathlon at the Joe Walker Invitational, scoring 5,319 points.
The NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships will begin on Thursday at 9 p.m. when Shelby competes in the 400 meters.
The full schedule of events and livestream information is on the Vanderbilt Athletics website.
