May 18, 2017
The NCAA released the official qualifiers for the Outdoor Track & Field Regional Qualifiers on Thursday afternoon and six Vanderbilt athletes were included in the field. The Regionals will take place on May 25-27 at the University of Kentucky. In order to qualify for the NCAA East Regional, an athlete must rank in the top 48 in their event.
Senior Sarah Bell, who is coming off a fifth-place finish in the pole vault at the SEC Championships last weekend, is the highest ranked Commodore entering Regionals. Bell is ranked fifth in the region with a season-best height of 14–0.50 (4.28m), which also marks a school record. She will be joined in the pole vault competition by freshman Caleigh Lofstead, who set her qualifying mark of 13–2.25 (4.02m) last week en route to a seventh-place finish at the SEC Championships. Lofstead ranks 40th in the Regionals field and was the highest-placing freshman at the conference championship meet in the pole vault.
Senior Courtney Clayton and freshman Reagan Bustamante also set qualifying times at last week’s SEC Championships in the 800-meter run. Clayton medaled with a third-place finish and a school-record time of 2:04.12. Bustamante ran her qualification time of 2:07.26 during the conference prelims before going on to finish seventh overall in the finals. Clayton and Bustamante rank 10th and 28th in the 800-meter field, respectively.
Junior Jenn Edobi ranks 22nd in the 400-meter dash with her career-best time of 53.16, which she set on Apr. 1 at the Florida Relays. Edobi also competed for the Nigerian national team at the IAAF World Relays from Apr. 22-23.
Senior Carmen Carlos rounds out the list of Commodore qualifiers at the Regional meet and will compete in the 5000-meter run. Carlos ran a personal-best time of 16:26.36 at the Virginia Challenge on Apr. 22, which ranks fourth all-time on Vanderbilt’s outdoor season performance list and seeds her 37th overall in the Regional field.
| Vanderbilt’s NCAA East Qualifiers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Athlete | Event | Qualifying Mark/Time | Rank |
| Sarah Bell | Pole Vault | 14′ 0.50″ | 5th |
| Courtney Clayton | 800m | 2:04.12 | 10th |
| Jenn Edobi | 400m | 53.16 | 22nd |
| Reagan Bustamante | 800m | 2:07.26 | 28th |
| Carmen Carlos | 5000m | 16:26.36 | 37th |
| Caleigh Lofstead | Pole Vault | 13′ 2.25″ | 40th |
Click HERE for a tentative schedule of the East Regional.
Click HERE for a full list of qualifying athletes in the East Regional.