UTEP�s Amusan, Men�s 4�400 Relay Team Qualify for NCAA Championships

AUSTIN, Texas – UTEP’s Tobi Amusan continued her dominance on Saturday afternoon at the Mike A. Myers Stadium for the NCAA West Region Preliminaries. The sophomore sprinted to a first-place finish in her 100m hurdle heat with a wind-aided time of 12.57 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

“Tobi ran exceptionally well today, executing her race at this level,” Head Coach Mika Laaksonen said. “This will be the largest team we take to the national stage and once we get there anything can happen.”

Amusan’s time was the fastest in the 48-athlete field. The Nigeria native will make her second trip to Eugene, Ore. Last year the sophomore clocked 12.79 to finish runner up to Kentucky’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.

Amusan ranks No. 2 in the country and will compete at the NCAA Championships June 7-10.

The men’s 4×400 relay team consisted of Asa Guevara, Michael Saruni, James Bias and Emmanuel Korir. The mile relay team placed third overall with a time of 3:03.15. Korir anchored the team running a split-time of 43.34 bringing them back from sixth-place to finish second in their heat giving them the automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

In the men’s 1,500m run, Jonah Koech nearly missed out qualifying to the NCAA Championships. The sophomore clocked 3:49.66 to earn an eighth-place showing in his heat.

Linda Cheruiyot registered a time of 4:36.56 to finish 12th in her heat.

The women’s 4x400m relay team of Lucia Mokrasova, Florence Uwakwe, Imani Adams and Ada Benjamin. The team ran a time of 3:45.16 to finish in eight-place in their heat.

Seven individuals and one relay team advanced to Eugene, Ore., Amusan, Samantha Hall, Lilian Koech, Winny Koech, Mokrasova, Korir and Saruni. Mokrasova’s 5,671 ranks her tied for 12th in the nation in the heptathlon, the top 24 heptathlon scores automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. Korir and Saruni will compete in both the 800m and the 4x400m relay.

The Miners will compete at the NCAA Championships June 7-10 at the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.,

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