AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 8 University of Arkansas men’s track and field team increased its total of national qualifiers to four Friday evening at the 2012 NCAA West Preliminary at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. On day two of the preliminary event, the Razorbacks collected qualifying performances from Akheem Gauntlett and Neil Braddy at 400 meters and Caleb Cross in the 400-meter hurdles. Raymond Higgs advanced in the long jump Thursday.
The day also featured continued first-round action and Arkansas responded with three quarterfinalists. Marek Niit advanced in the 200 meters, while Cross and Kyle Dunn moved on to the next round of the 100-meter hurdles
Arkansas will have two runners competing in the 400 meters at the NCAA Championships after the efforts of Gauntlett and Braddy. Gauntlett, the sixth-overall performer, finished second in his heat with a time of 46.00. Braddy, running in heat one, finished fourth in his heat but had the fastest at-large time of 46.19 to advance to the national meet.
Niit made his first appearance of the weekend with a qualifying performance in the first round of the 200 meters. Running in heat six, he pulled through in third place in a time of 20.94 and earned one of the automatic qualifying spots into the next round. The 200-meter quarterfinal will be run Saturday at 7:35 p.m. Niit could also see action in both relays for the Razorbacks.
In the final event of day two, Rick Elliott just missed advancing to the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Razorback senior finished in seventh place in his heat but 14th overall, missing a national bid by two spots. He finished the race with a time of 8:56.51.
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The No. 13 University of Arkansas women’s track and field team racked up its first national qualifiers of the weekend. The Razorbacks will be represented at the NCAA Championships by Tina Sutej in pole vault and Regina George and Whitney Jones at 400 meters. Arkansas also picked up three quarterfinal bids Friday from Tiffany Hines at 200 meters and Ivanique Kemp and Brittany Hyter in the 100-meter hurdles.
Sutej was the first national qualifier of the weekend for Arkansas. Taking just one attempt in the pole vault, the Razorback senior soared over the bar set at 4.17m/13-8.25. She passed on the first three bar heights before entering the competition. This will be Sutej’s third appearance at the NCAA Championships.
The Razorbacks picked up two more national qualifiers in the 400 meters with George and Jones. Running in heat two, George built an early lead and crossed the finish in a winning time of 52.34. Jones ran the second-fastest time among the at-large group and finished 11th overall with her time of 53.09. Both were part of the NCAA field last season.