EMPORIA, Kan. – Five members of the Slippery Rock University track & field teams will represent The Rock at the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships Thursday through Saturday at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.
 
The Rock men will be represented at nationals by Kanye Thompson in the 100-meter dash, Drew Layton in the pole vault and Joshua Gose in the shot put. The women's team will be represented by Anna Igims in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Sarah Corrie in the shot put.
 
MEET INFO
• Location: Emporia State University | Emporia, Kansas
• Facility: Zola Witten Track at Francis G. Welch Stadium
• Meet Homepage
• Full Meet Schedule
• Live Results
• Live Video
 
SRU SCHEDULE AT NATIONALS
(all times listed as Eastern Time)
Thur. - 7:10 p.m. – Men's 100m Prelims (Kanye Thompson)
Thur. - 8:10 p.m. – Women's 3,000m Steeplechase Prelims (Anna Igims)
Fri. - 8:30 p.m. – Women's 3,000m Steeplechase Finals (Anna Igims, if qualified)
Sat. - 12 p.m. – Women's Shot Put Finals (Sarah Corrie)
Sat. - 1:30 p.m. – Men's Pole Vault Finals (Drew Layton)
Sat. - 3:15 p.m. – Men's Shot Put Finals (Joshua Gose)
Sat. - 4:25 p.m. – Men's 100m Finals (Kanye Thompson, if qualified)
 
AWARDS AVAILABLE
The top eight finishers in each event will be named first team All-Americans by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Finishers 9-12 in each event will be named second team All-Americans.
 
REPEAT TRIP FOR IGIMS
Anna Igims is the lone representative from Slippery Rock that has experience at the outdoor national  meet after she also qualified in the steeplechase last spring. She finished 15th in the prelims in her debut appearance at nationals, just missing out on an All-America spot.
 
CORRIE BACK TO NATIONALS
While Sarah Corrie will be making her outdoor nationals debut, she does have experience on the national stage after qualifying in the shot put for the indoor national meet in 2023, where she placed 16th.
 
NATIONALS DEBUTS
All three of the SRU men competing this week will be making their first appearance at a collegiate national meet. Gose has hit the NCAA mark in the shot put in each of the last three indoor and outdoor seasons, but has fallen just short of the cutoff in each year. Thompson is running in just his second season with the SRU track & field team and also balanced spring football practices for most of the season this spring as the dual-sport athlete is also a defensive back on the SRU football team. Layton is making his first appearance at nationals as a true freshman after having a stellar first season at SRU.
 
THOMPSON LEADS IT OFF
Kanye Thompson will lead things off in the 100-meter dash prelims Thursday evening at 7:10 p.m. ET (6:10 CT). Thompson enters the meet ranked 13th in a field of 20 entries in the men's 100m. He will race in lane one of the third heat in the prelims, where he will run against multiple athletes with a faster time than him for the first time all season. His heat includes the No. 1 overall seed in West Texas A&M's Isaac Botsio, who has run a blazing 9.93 seconds this year. Thompson's season-best of 10.27 seconds is an SRU record and just one-hundredth of a second off the all-time PSAC record of 10.26 seconds. The winners of each of the three prelims and the next five fastest times will advance to Saturday's final, which is set for 4:25 p.m. ET (3:25 CT). If Thompson qualifies, he will close out the meet for SRU Saturday afternoon.
 
IGIMS ALSO RACES THURSDAY
Anna Igims will be the lone SRU female to compete on the opening day with the 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims at 8:10 p.m. ET (7:10 CT). She will race in the first of two sections of the steeplechase in the prelims, where each of the top four finishers in both heats and the next four fastest times will advance to Friday's final at 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 CT). Igims broke her own SRU record by nearly 10 seconds with a time of 10:24.93 two weeks ago and enters the meet seeded 10th in a field of 20 entries. The No. 7 seed is just three seconds quicker at 10:21. Igims' prelim heat will include the No. 2 overall seed, Ava O'Connor from Adams State, who has a season-best of 9:54.66. If she qualifies for the finals, she will be the lone SRU athlete competing Friday on the second day of the meet.
 
CORRIE LEADS OFF SATURDAY
Sarah Corrie will be the first SRU athlete to compete Saturday on the final day of the meet with the women's shot put final set to start at noon ET (11 a.m. CT). She enters the competition with a season-best of 14.76 meters, which ranks 21st in a field of 23 entries. Corrie will throw in the sixth position in the first of two flights. The top nine throws from both flights will advance to the finals for three more throws. Grand Valley State's Erika Beistle is the top overall seed with a mark of 16.75 meters.
 
LAYTON COMPETES SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Drew Layton will be the second to compete Saturday with the men's pole vault final set for 1:30 p.m. ET (12:30 CT). Layton recorded a season-best clearance of 5.07 meters, which was exactly the number needed to get into the field as he is the No. 19 seed in a field of 19 qualifiers. The margin between the No. 9 seed and the No. 19 seed in the event just 11 centimeters as 11 men in the field have a season-best between 5.07 meters and 5.18 meters. The top seed in the field is Harding vaulter Vlad Malykhin with a season-best of 5.51 meters.
 
GOSE COMPETES SATURDAY AS WELL
Joshua Gose will be the last of the five SRU athletes to see action when the men's shot put final goes off Saturday at 3:15 p.m. ET (2:15 CT). The PSAC champion in the event recorded a season-best mark of 17.59 meters to rank No. 16 in a field of 19 entries. All of the qualifiers between seeds No. 10 and No. 19 have a season-best mark between 17.38 meters and 17.98 meters. Gose will throw in the third position in the first of two flights. The top nine throws from both flights will advance to the finals for three more throws. Grand Valley State's Myles Kerner is the top overall seed with a mark of 19.67 meters.
 
RECAPS AND RESULTS
Recaps and results from each day of the meet will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com in the evening each day after the final SRU athlete has competed for the day.
 
 
 

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