Eke Preps For NCAA Track & Field Championship Finals
6/11/2015 9:15:00 AM | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore. - A place in the NCAA record books is on the line this weekend for Nadia Eke, who will compete in the triple jump at the NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships Finals on Saturday at the University of Oregon, at 5 p.m eastern.
Eke qualified for the finals with a 13.10m (42'11.75”) leap in the triple at the NCAA Track & Field East Prelims on May 30. She claimed third place at the event in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming one of 12 athletes to match up with the dozen triple jump qualifiers from the NCAA West Prelims in Eugene.
The Accra, Ghana, native will come into the weekend with the fifth best mark in the NCAA this season, having gone 13.39m (43'11.25”) at the Penn Relays. That career-best mark helped Eke to post a runner-up finish at Franklin Field to Ciarra Brewer of Florida (44'0”), who also will compete this weekend.
Along with the fifth best Division-I jump this season, Eke will go into the meet with the fifth farthest leap in the NCAA Preliminary rounds. Allie Saunders from Texas State leads the pack of 24 jumpers with a 13.64m mark, followed by Georgia's Kenturah Orji (13.38m), Auburn's Marshay Ryan (13.35m), Western Illinois' Jasmine Brown (13.20m), and Eke.
The recent graduate of Columbia hopes to garner All-American honors for what would be the fourth time in her career. Eke took eighth place at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Championships, claimed sixth at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships, and finished third at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships.
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