May 21, 2015
East Women’s Preliminary Round Declared Athletes
With a successful showing at the SEC Championships on their resumé, several members of the Vanderbilt track and field team are ready for the next challenge.
The Commodores will besending nine athletes to the NCAA Prelimiaries in Jacksonville, Fla., on May 28-30. The list includes Courtney Clayton, Sara Barron, Becca Chandler, Faith Washington, Skyler Carpenter, Erin Edmond, Sarah Bell, Ellie Tidman and Simone Charley.
“It’s a very good representation for our team,” said head coach Steve Keith. “It’s great to see these girls put themselves in that position to be competing at this meet.”
Vanderbilt’s list of qualifiers featured six times/distances that ranked among the Top-20 on the national list, including three that ranked among the Top-12. (See list below).
Vanderbilt narrowly missed out on having an even larger group advance to the meet, as Katherine Delaney, Claire Benjamin, Carmen Carlos and Liz Anderson were each on the cusp of qualifying. Delaney and Carlos both scored points for Vanderbilt at last week’s SEC meet, with Carlos earn sixth place (three points) in the 5000-meter run with a personal-record time of 16:31.48 and Delaney taking eighth place (one point) in the 1500 with a personal-best mark of 4:24.55.
“Two of our biggest goals each season are seeing how many (athletes) can we have score at the SEC meet, and how many can we advance past that,” said Keith. “And we felt like were successful in both areas.”
“Now, the country is divided into two groups of 48 (in each event),” said Keith. “So, the question is, can you get in that group of 12 that move on?”
Here’s a look at which events the Commodores will be competing in (with qualifying rank):
800: Courtney Clayton (T-15 — 2:05:52)Â
1500: Sara Barron (20 — 4:20.41)
Steeplechase: Rebecca Chandler (40 — 10:21.20)
400 Hurdles: Faith Washington (11 — 57.64), Skyler Carpenter (33 — 58.84)
4×400: Team of Faith Washington, Skyler Carpenter, Courtney Clayton and Erin Edmond (12 — 3:34.78)
Pole Vault: Sara Bell (16 — 13-8.25)
High Jump: Ellie Tidman (T-29)
Triple Jump: Simone Charley (8)
Check back soon at vucommodores.com for a full preview of the meet.