JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Junior Daniel Mutai ran to an 11th-place finish in the men's 10,000-meter run Thursday evening to lead the ULM track & field team on day one of the NCAA East Preliminary at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the North Florida University. The finish advances Mutai to next week's NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.
The native of Kapsabet, Kenya, clocked a time of 30:32.43 to earn the top-12 finish. It marks the fifth straight year that the Warhawks have had at least one athlete qualify for the NCAA Championships. Mutai becomes the sixth ULM athlete during that stretch to earn a bid to compete against the nation's best.
Richard McKay narrowly missed his second straight trip to the NCAA Championships with a 13th place finish in the men's javelin Thursday morning. The senior from Deridder, La., finished with a best throw of 218-3 (66.53m), just 11 centimeters behind LSU's Jeremy Tuttle for 12th place.
Despite missing out on the NCAA Championships, McKay will compete in the javelin at the USA Olympic Trials June 22-30 in Eugene, Ore. McKay submitted himself as one of the best javelin athletes in school history as he qualified for four NCAA Regionals and two NCAA Championships during his career at ULM.
In other action Thursday, freshman Jamel Sams placed 41st in the men's 400-meter hurdles and senior Marcie Richard took 24th in the women's javelin.
The Warhawks will be back in action Friday with senior Josh Howard competing in the men's triple jump around 3:30 p.m. (CT).