GULF SHORES, Ala. –
Raheema Westfall qualified first for the 200 meter finals to highlight first-day action for Wayland Baptist at the weather-interrupted NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships.
Westfall ran a time of 23.41 seconds, the fastest of the eight qualifying times heading into Friday's final. Rival Praise Idamadudu of Cumberland (Tenn.) qualified second in 23.58.
Westfall will run the 100 prelims Thursday.
"Raheema looked really good," WBU coach
Brian Whitlock said. "She's going to be hard to beat in both sprint races."
Results
The only other results for WBU Wednesday were
Brenden Strickland in the men's 200 and the women's 4x100 relay of
Cheyenne Hill-Johnson, Jovanna Gustavo,
Faith Castillo and
Sakena Massiah. Neither qualified for the finals. Strickland ran a time of 22.26, which was 38
th, while the sprint relay foursome lapped the track in 48.65, which was 27
th.
"Cheyenne ran a good leg and Faith did OK, but we struggled in other spots. That was disappointing," Whitlock said. Of Strickland, the coach said, "Things didn't go well for Brenden today. But for a guy to come out after football and be a two-time national qualifier, he did a good job. I think he can walk away proud with what he's done."
WBU men's 4x800 relay team of
Reymond Bueno,
Reggie Mouton,
Cesar Amador and
Jordan Dixon, and steeplechaser
Dennis Kiptoo, who qualified for nationals with the fifth-fastest time, were scheduled to compete in prelims Wednesday evening. But thunderstorms cut the day short. The 4x8 was rescheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday and the steeplechase at 12:10 p.m.
However, the forecast calls for continued rain through Thursday afternoon, so the meet may get pushed back again.
"When stuff like this happens, everybody is in the same boat," Whitlock said. "It comes down to, 'Are you going to be mentally tough and handle what life throws at you?' We'll see how we handle it. We have some mentally-tough kids. I think we'll be OK."
NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships
Thursday Preliminaries
Women
4x100 relay: 27. WBU (
Cheyenne Hill-Johnson, Jovanna Gustavo,
Faith Castillo,
Sakena Massiah), 48.65
200: 1.
Raheema Westfall, 23.41*
Men
200: 38.
Brenden Strickland, 22.26
*denotes qualified for finals
