May 29, 2015

Live Results | National Championships Central | MSU NCAA Preview

AUSTIN, Texas -- The second day of the NCAA Track & Field Championships West Prelims saw Missouri State runners turn in good times only to fall short of advancement in all four events in which the Bears participated here Friday.

After a season-best performance (11.40) in Thursday's opening round of the 100-meter dash, sophomore Marissa Kurtimah finished just shy of making the national semifinal cut with a run of 11.41 in Friday's quarterfinals. Her finish placed her in 14^th place at the Austin regional, just four one-hundredths of a second behind USC freshman Deanna Hill who captured the final national qualifying spot in 12^th place.

Kurtimah also ran in the opening round of the 200-meter dash Friday, notching a speedy mark of (24.15) to finish 40^th and well outside the top 24 quarterfinal marks. Her effort was the fourth-fastest Missouri State mark in the 200-meter event this season.

In the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles, MSU's junior tandem of Oarabile Babolayi and Shani Adams also failed to advance with efforts of 59.99 (18^th) and 1:00.39 (21^st), respectively. Adams was coming off her second-fastest time of the season (59.78) in Thursday's opening round and was just over a second behind the pace to finish in the top 12.

Babolayi was also among the 48 competitors trying to advance Friday in the 100-meter hurdles, along with teammate Holly Pattie-Belleli. Pattie-Belleli posted a time of 13.67 to finish with the 35^th best qualifying mark of the opening round, while Babolayi was 43^rd (13.81), keeping both athletes outside the top 24 times needed to advance to Saturday's quarterfinals.

The NCAA West event concludes Saturday with the Bears sending Robiann Broomfield into action in the triple jump, while the Bears' red-hot 4x100-meter relay team will hit the lanes for the first time after posting the 13^th-best qualifying time headed into the meet. Last year, Broomfield finished 22^nd at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump as a sophomore (12.72 meters),

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