Aggies Heading to Finals
Photo Courtesy: Michael Simmons
By: Kurtis Alston
Can you say Aggie Pride? On Thursday, Paula Salmon punched her ticket to the 100-meter hurdles national championship. She posted the second-fastest qualifying time (12.68) at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Oregon.
Salmon ran her way to the second-team All-American honors in the 100-meter hurdles last season. She is a two-time first-team All-American in the 60-meter hurdles. Unfortunately, she took a fall during the 60-meter hurdle at the NCAA indoor nationals in Birmingham, Alabama.
Even though Salmon punched her ticket Thursday to advance, it was a bit slower than her best time (12.63). She cruised in the third heat over Texas Tech’s Demisha Rosewell. Salmon will try to capture Gold Saturday at 6:12 pm EST.
Grace Nwokocha, the other Aggie who qualified to advance to the finals, ran her best of 10.97 in the 100 meters to finish third in her heat. Her time was the fourth-fastest time and helped her advance to Saturday’s final. Nwokocha also ran a personal best of 22.44 in the 200 meters but finished third in her heat.
The meet had several athletes putting up their personal best, with Grace having the seventh-fastest time in the 200 meters. Nwokocha will be running Saturday at 6:22 pm EST.
A couple of Aggie men will also. Junior Randolph Ross Jr. is looking to go back-to-back in the 400 meters, and 4×400 meter relay national championship. Sophomore sprinter Javonte Harding is looking to capture the 100-meter national championship and 4×100 meter.
