Representatives of the University of Redlands track & field teams competed in the second day of the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships and turned in solid results at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Headlining the day, graduate student Reyna Ta'amu (Lakewood, CA) became a national champion in the Shot Put for the first time in her career.
Ta'amu began her outing with a throw of 48' 6 ¾", which would have placed third overall. She followed that up with a powerful heave of 49' 7" on her second throw to shatter her season-best mark of 48' ¾". As a result of winning the national championship, Reyna also becomes an All-American for the third time in her career.
In addition, junior Jessica Fields (Las Vegas, NV) qualified for her second final of the national meet when she fired off a speedy time of 14.20 in the preliminaries of the 100 Hurdles. She enters Saturday's competition as the fourth seed in that event and also looks forward to racing in the 400 Hurdles.
Junior Chyenne Kimble (Big Bear Lake, CA) closely followed Fields in today's 100 Hurdles with a time of 14.23 for a fifth-place finish and a spot in tomorrow's final.
In the Heptathlon, senior Kara Romani (Sacramento, CA) completed Friday's events with a final tally of 4,488 points in 16th place overall. Her best showing of the day came in the Long Jump with a 13th-place distance of 17' 2 ¼".
For the men, sophomore Tucker Cargile (Denver, CO) earned a spot in the final of the 800 Meters by firing off a seventh-place time of 1:51.95 during the prelims. Senior Luke Bohlinger (Mercer Island, WA) endured misfortune late in the 100 Meters but managed to cross the finish line with a time of 11.22 for 20th place.
Redlands wraps up action at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, May 25, beginning with the women's 4x100 Relay at 12:05 p.m. EDT.