RESULTS
AUSTIN, Texas – Junior Ebony Collins and freshman Kemar Mowatt competed tonight at the 2015 Division I Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Round at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Mowatt fell short of the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter hurdles but improved his time from Thursday's opening round, while Collins broke the school record in the 200-meter dash.
"It was a good outing and they ran well," Director of Track and Field Shawn Flanagan said. "It was a huge improvement for Kemar, as he's consistently running 51 seconds. He had a tremendous freshman season, and we can build on it in the future and we are very optimistic. Ebony finished higher than her ranking and anytime you run two lifetime bests it's a pretty good outing."
For the second straight day Collins broke a school record. On Thursday, she broke the 100-meter dash record and tonight she set a new personal-best time of 23.89 in the 200-meter dash to place fifth in her heat. Heading into the event Collins was ranked 45th and finished in 30th place overall. Her previous school-record mark of 23.93 was set at the Michael Johnson Classic in Waco, Texas earlier this year. She also earned a first-place finish in the 200 meters at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
On Thursday, Collins set a new school record in the 100-meter dash with a personal-best time of 11.53 to finish fourth in her heat and 29th overall. She improved her previous mark of 11.59 set at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
This season, the San Antonio native earned a first-place finish in the 200 meters and a second-place finish in the 100 meters at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
"It was a great experience and I have really improved on my time," Collins said. "I can't be nothing but proud of myself for running a personal record in both my races these past two days and breaking the school records. I'm proud to say that this was also one of my healthiest, and best years and I still have next year to do some damage."
Mowatt fell short of advancing to the NCAA Championships with a time of 51.42 to finish in 16th place in the quarterfinals of the 400-meter hurdles. He improved his time of 51.49 set on Thursday in the opening round.
Mowatt advanced to the West Preliminary Round after putting together a remarkable rookie season. The native of Kingston, Jamaica qualified in the 400-meter hurdles after posting a school-record and personal-best time of 51.13 to place third at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
"For me this year was just all about getting myself familiar with competing against athletes at the college level," Mowatt said. "I improved by a second this year and improved by two seconds last year so there is a trend in improving from year to year. I am disappointed not making it to nationals but I enjoyed every step of the way.
"One more hurdle."
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