T&T sprint­ers Leah Bertrand and Ak­i­lah Lewis qual­i­fied for the fi­nals in the women's 100 me­tres and 4x100m, re­spec­tive­ly, on the sec­ond day of the Na­tion­al Col­le­giate Ath­let­ic As­so­ci­a­tion (NCAA) Di­vi­sion One (DI) Out­door Track and Field Cham­pi­onships in Eu­gene, Ore­gon on Thurs­day (June 6).

Lewis of Ole Miss Uni­ver­si­ty and lo­cal club, Con­corde Ath­let­ic Club, se­cured her lane in the women's 100m fi­nals af­ter fin­ish­ing sec­ond in heat one of the pre­lim­i­nar­ies in 11.17 sec­onds to qual­i­fy for her first-ever na­tion­al fi­nal with the sev­enth-quick­est time of the nine fi­nal­ists. At last year's NCAA fi­nals, the Sim­plex sprint­er was 20th in the pre­lim­i­nar­ies.

In the fi­nals set for to­day, Bertrand of Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty (OSU) will start in lane eight and will seek to be­come the first lo­cal since Kel­ly-Ann Bap­tiste in 2008 to win the NCAA DI women's 100 crown.

Bertrand was hop­ing to qual­i­fy for the 4x100m fi­nal for the sec­ond straight year but her Ohio State team was 10th best in Thurs­day's Pre­lims in 43.38, af­ter plac­ing third in heat three. Lewis' Ole Miss was the top team speed­ing to 42.22 in cap­tur­ing the first heat. Lewis is com­pet­ing in her third NCAA Cham­pi­onships. She was in the 2022 and 2023 edi­tions as a stu­dent of Min­neso­ta.

Tae­jha Badal and her Texas State team­mates end­ed in 19th (44.03). Ole Miss will line up in lane 6 in to­day's fi­nals.

Rae-Anne Serville (Mem­phis Pi­o­neers) of South Cal­i­for­nia was shy of ad­vanc­ing to the 400m hur­dles fi­nals. The na­tion­al girls Un­der-18 and U-20 400m record-hold­er crossed the line in 57.13 fin­ish­ing sixth in heat three.

Last evening, Texas Uni­ver­si­ty's Kelsey Daniel was sched­uled to be in the men's triple jump fi­nals. Sha­keem Mc Kay and Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty (LSU) were card­ed to be in the men's 4x400m fi­nals. LSU was to run out of lane nine.

NCAA Di­vi­sion One Track and Field Cham­pi­onships

Eu­gene, Ore­gon

Thu, Jun 6

Women

Pre­lims (9 ad­vance to the fi­nals-Top two plus best 3 best times)

100m: 7th (2h1) (Leah Bertrand (Ohio State/Sim­plex) 11.17

4x100m; 1st (1h1) Ole Miss (Ak­i­lah Lewis/Con­corde) 42.22; 10th (3h3) Ohio State (Leah Bertrand/Sim­plex) 43.38; 19th (7h3) Texas State (Tae­jha Badal /Mem­phis Pi­o­neers) 44.03

400m hur­dles: 13th (6h3) Rae-Anne Serville (South Cal­i­for­nia/Mem­phis Pi­o­neers) 57.13

Fri, Jun 7

Triple jump Fi­nals: (Flight 1, po­si­tion 10) Kelsey Daniel (Texas/Kaizen Pan­thers)

4x400m Fi­nals: Lane 9 Louisiana State (Sha­keem McK­ay/Abi­lene Wild­cats)

Sat Jun 8

Women

Fi­nals

100m : Lane 8 Leah Bertrand (Ohio State/Sim­plex)

4x100m: Lane 6 Ole Miss (Ak­i­lah Lewis/Con­corde)