The NAIA National office announced the official qualifiers for the Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday afternoon. St. Thomas had 12 overall qualifiers with Pamela Sanders-Booker being the lone women qualifier.
Since the program started in 2018 the Bobcats have qualified at least one individual in both the men and women programs. Isaac Joseph is the lone four-year Bobcat to make it in each of his years at St. Thomas with the exception of the 2020 season where there was no national championship due to COVID-19.
This year Pamela Sanders-Booker returns having qualified for the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. Sanders-Booker had a personal-best run at the Sun Conference Outdoor Championship in the 400-meter dash going 56.56 in the finals to come in second place. Going into the national meet, Sanders-Booker is 14th overall in the. 400-meter dash and 25th overall in the 200-meter dash.
On the men's side Marvin Williams, Isaac Joseph, Guillaume Richards and Michael Smikle were the only ones to qualify in both an individual event and a relay. Williams comes into the meet with the fastest time in the country for the 110-meter hurdles and third fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles. Last year, Williams was the only All-American of the program with two top-eight finishes in both races.
Joseph comes into the meet with the second-fastest time in the country in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. During the Sun Conference Meet the senior broke both records in the respective events and hit personal-best times while claiming gold medals.
Four freshmen qualified in their debut season, Michael Smikle leading the pack as the lone individual qualifier with the 11th fastest time in the 800-meter run. Zion Roberts, Jonah Hill, and Dennis Drummonds all qualified on a relay team. Both the 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay hit the 'A' standard to qualify.
Marvin Williams, Bradley Bowlin, Jonah Hill, Isaac Joseph, Guillaume Richards, and Zion Roberts are all eligible to run in the 4x100 meter relay, they come in ranked 17th in the country. Williams, Joseph, Drummonds, Smikle, Jonathan Memnon, Isaiah Hunter, and Rick Daniel are all eligible to run in the 4x400 meter relay coming in with a top-eighth time.
The team of Bowlin, Joseph, Williams, and Richards hit the 'A' mark at the Sun Conference Championship Meet and finished in second place in the 4x100. On April 29, the Bobcats kept looking for a faster time in the 4x400 and they reached it finishing fourth at the North Florida Collegiate Invitational beating out three NCAA Division I opponents as Williams, Hunter, Joseph, and Smikle clinched a time of 3:14.58.
The National Championships is set to take place from Wednesday, May 25 to Friday, May 27 at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium. Wednesday and Thursday will consist of prelims while the finals will take place all-day on Friday. Anyone who places in the top-eight will automatically be recognized as an All-American.
Meet Schedule – Prelims (All-times are in ET)
Pamela Sanders-Booker
200-meter dash: Wednesday, May 25, 7:00 p.m. / 400-meter dash: Thursday, May 26, 6:00 p.m.
Isaac Joseph
200-meter dash: Wednesday, May 25, 7:15 p.m. / 100-meter dash: Thursday, May 26, 5:40 p.m.
Guillaume Richards
100-meter dash: Thursday, May 26, 5:40 p.m.
Marvin Williams
400-meter hurdles: Wednesday, May 25, 6:35 p.m. / 110-meter hurdles: Thursday, May 26, 4:15 p.m.
Michael Smikle
800-meter run: Thursday, May 26, 4:50 p.m.
4x100 meter relay: Wednesday, May 25, 5:10 p.m.
4x400 meter relay: Thursday, May 26, 10:45 p.m.
Full schedule and results can be found here for men and here for women.
Original source can be found here.
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