East Carolina University
Day 3
Jones, Goggins Advance to NCAA Outdoor Championships
May 31, 2015 | Track & Field
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - East Carolina redshirt senior Aiesha Goggins and junior Avion Jones turned in a pair of qualifying performances at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field East Regionals as the duo advances to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.
"Any time you can advance people on to the final rounds in Eugene, Ore., you have accomplished a major goal," Head Coach Curt Kraft said. "We are extremely proud of both Avion and Aiesha as they move on and try to become First Team All-Americans on the biggest stage for college track and field."
Goggins qualified in the women's 400-meter dash as she posted a time of 52.63 in the preliminary round, before recording a time of 51.81 in the semi-finals. The Durham, N.C., native finished in the top 10 in both the preliminaries and the semi-finals as she will move on to the finals at the 2015 Division I NCAA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Joining Goggins at the Outdoor Championships will be Jones who tied for first in the men's high jump preliminaries with a clearance of 2.13-meters (6' 11.65"). The product of Virginia Beach, Va., will represent the ECU men's squad in Eugene, Ore., in his second appearance at the NCAA Championships.
The 2015 Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Outdoor Championships begin Wednesday, June 10 and conclude Saturday, June 13.
"The thing that these two have is experience at this level," Kraft explained. "Both have been All-Americans before and know what it takes to get the job done. It is really tough it is to make this meet. Regardless of what happens, we know that they have worked extremely hard to get to this point."
Despite Goggins and Jones being the only Pirates to move on to the NCAA Championships, East Carolina had several strong showings at the NCAA East Regional.
On the women's side, senior Tania Minkins posted a qualifying time in the preliminaries of the women's 100-meter dash, before falling just short of nationals in the semi-finals with a time of 11.56.
Cheyenne Hutchinson, a junior out of Queens, N.Y., recorded a top 30 finish in the women's 100-meter hurdles after finishing in 13.56. Additionally, junior Janieyah Collins turned in a time of 1:01.01 in the women's 400-meter hurdles preliminary as she was unable to advance to the semi-finals.
In the field, the ECU women's squad saw freshman Galissia Cause (14.05m) and senior Kaylee Redon (50.85m) come in short of moving onto the semi-finals in the women's shot put and hammer throw, respectively.
The Pirate men sent junior Demonte Wilson to compete in the 110-meter hurdles preliminaries as he failed to advance after posting a time of 14.47.
The men's 400-meter hurdles preliminaries saw three Pirates in freshman Xavier Brown, sophomore Rodney Johnson and junior Chandler Chase hit the track. Brown and Johnson advanced from the preliminaries to the semi-finals with times of 51.56 and 51.63, respectively. In the semi-finals, Johnson narrowly missed moving onto nationals with a personal record time of 51.49, while Brown registered a time of 51.72.
Also competing in the men's high jump along with Jones was sophomore Joey Muzzio who turned in a career-best mark of 2.04-meters (6' 8.25") as he was unable to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Rounding out the men's performers was senior Henry Johnson who posted a mark of 5.00-meters (16' 4.75") in the pole vault as he came in just shy of qualifying for nationals.
Players Mentioned
