EUGENE, Ore. – The Commodores will wrap up their collegiate outdoor season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Thursday and Saturday. The national meet is held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
On Thursday, freshman Lena Gooden will compete in the long jump final, and graduate students Veronica Fraley and Sarah Omoregie will contest the shot put final.
Gooden has broken the long jump school record twice this year. She placed 10th at the NCAA East First Round with a 6.19-meter jump to punch her ticket to nationals. At the SEC Outdoor Championships, she was the top freshman finisher and sixth overall with a 6.17-meter mark.
2024 SEC Field Athlete of the Year Fraley reset the program record in the shot put when she claimed the SEC shot put crown with a personal best 18.29-meter throw. In 2023, she earned second-team All-America honors in the event, throwing a then personal best 17.84 meters.
Also an All-American in 2023, Omoregie owns a personal best of 17.79 meters in the shot put, which she set this season at the LSU Alumni Gold. Ranked third in program history in the indoor and outdoor shot put, she earned third at the indoor conference championship and seventh outdoors in the event.
Saturday is the discus final where Fraley enters as the fifth-ranked competitor with a qualifying mark of 58.53 meters. Her collegiate season-best mark of 61.62 meters is ranked third in the NCAA. She’s currently fifth in the world, second in the United States in the discus with a 67.17-meter mark set competing unattached at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational.
At the 2023 outdoor championships, Vanderbilt posted its best team finish since 1997, tying for 20th place with 13 points.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be broadcast Thursday on ESPN2 and Saturday on ESPN. Field event streams for the long jump and shot put are on ESPN+. Championship information and live results are available online.
Vanderbilt schedule
Thursday
9 p.m. CT – long jump Gooden)
9:40 p.m. – shot put (Fraley, Omoregie)
Saturday
4:05 p.m. – discus (Fraley)
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