Outdoor track and field opens with ten national qualifiers
The outdoor track and field season opened over the weekend with ten qualifying marks for the NJCAA national championships while competing at the Baldy Castillo meet at Arizona State and the Willie Williams meet at the University of Arizona.
The MCC men grabbed nine of the spots while competing at ASU.
Cameron Lewis and Nikeaus Hale-Mercer each qualified in two events, their specialties the weights.
Lewis tossed the shot 53-9 ¾ and recorded a 160-11 in the discus while Hale-Mercer posted a 53-10 ¼ in the shot and a 156-3 in the discus.
Indoor national champion pole vaulter Kyle Downey quickly punched his ticket to nationals with a 16 ¾, while Antwan Ross-Jones surpassed the mark in the high jump at 6-8 and Marcus Naisant joined the list in the javelin at 187-2.
In addition, the 4x100 relay team of Jaylen Higgins, Adrian Adams, Trent Stimac and Alex Kellybrew bettered the standard with a 41.76 clocking.
For the women, Justice Angel qualified in the pole vault while competing at the U of A with a leap of 10-11 ¾.
The Mesa teams will compete at the Cody McBride Memorial Friday and Saturday at Paradise Valley as well as Distance in the Dark Thursday evening in Scottsdale.