Dejanae Oakley of the University of Georgia ran a facility record 49.48 seconds to lead qualifying for the NCAA National Championships in the women’s 400m at the NCAA East Regionals at the University of Kentucky on Saturday.

Oakley, the world leader in the event with 48.92 seconds that she ran while winning at the Southeastern Conference championships two weeks ago, beat the 50.30 seconds facility record set two years ago by another Georgia runner, Aaliyah Butler.

Rushana Dwyer of Northwestern State set her second lifetime best at the event when she ran 50.81 seconds while Skyler Franklin of LSU ran a personal best and world under-20 leading 50.83 seconds as both advanced as well.

ACC double-sprint champion Shenese Walker of Florida State ran 10.88 seconds (1.1m/s) to book her spot in the 100m and will be accompanied by Gabrielle Matthews of the University of Florida who was a double qualifier, running 11.02 seconds (1.1m/s) in the 100m and 22.78 seconds (0.8m/s) in the 200m.

Shantae Foreman of Clemson punched her second ticket of the weekend as she placed third in the triple jump with 13.49m (0.8m/s) after booking a spot in the long jump on Thursday.

Anniska McDonald of West Virginia qualified for the high jump after placing fourth with 1.82m.

Janela Spencer of Ohio State was fourth in the 100m hurdles, matching her season best 12.79 seconds (0.0m/s). Oneka Wilson of Clemson ran 12.88 seconds (0.2m/s) for fifth.

At the West Regionals at the University of Arkansas, Abigail Martin of Texas A&M University (TAMU) qualified in the women’s discus throw with 57.98m.
Carleta Bernard of the University of Texas booked her first individual place at the national championships with a wind-aided 11.01 seconds (2.5m/s) in the 100m.

Tonie-Ann Forbes of Texas Tech also advanced in the 100m hurdles with 12.92 seconds (1.8m/s) while Machaeda Linton of TAMU produced a personal best 13.31m (1.0m/s) on her final attempt to get the final spot in the triple jump.
-Paul A Reid