COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Wichita State's
Josh Parrish qualified to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the long jump on day one of the NCAA West Preliminaries Wednesday at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
The sophomore from Olathe, Kan. jumped a wind-legal season best of 7.84m/25'8.75" on his first attempt, good for the sixth-farthest mark of day to punch his ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. in June.
"I had to go straight to the hurdles right after [my first attempt], so once I saw 7.84, I was kind of certain I was going to get in but still had to keep my cool," Parrish said.
Immediately after recording his NCAA qualifying jump, Parrish clocked a personal-best 13.47 in the 110-meter hurdles to finish third in his heat and earn an auto-qualifying spot in Friday's quarterfinals.
"Going straight to the hurdles and running a personal best was good too, so it was exciting," Parrish said.
Two other Shockers advanced to Friday's quarterfinals as
Jason Parrish won his heat of the 400-meter hurdles with his second-career sub-50 second race, clocking 49.90, and
Yared Kidane taking third in his heat of the 800 meters with a time of 1:47.67, both men auto-qualifying to the next round.
In the javelin,
Blake McCormick and
Jordan Rider outperformed the form chart, placing 25
th and 28
th, respectively. McCormick threw 64.90m/212'11", and Rider recorded a mark of 63.19m/207'3".
Chairo Ogbebor capped a successful freshman season, jumping 7.10m/23'3.5" to place 37
th in the long jump, and
Jaleel Montgomery finished 42
nd in the 100 meters with a time of 10.63.
Competition resumes Thursday at E.B. Cushing Stadium with the first day of women's events, starting at 2:30 p.m. with the javelin.
