Five Pirates, One Relay Qualify for NCAA East First Round Meet in Eight Events

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Five individuals and one relay team from the East Carolina track & field program have earned their way into the NCAA East First Round meet, the NCAA announced Thursday.

Royal Burris on the men's side made the cut in the 100m and 200m while Melicia Mouzzon (100m and 200m), Sydni McMillan (100m Hurdles), Rebekah Bergquist (Discus) and Naadiya Faison (Shot Put) will represent the women as individuals while the women's 4x100m relay squad made the cut as a group.

Burris is set to compete in the regional meet for the third time in his career after running season bests of 10.19 in the 100m and 20.48 in the 200m. Those times ranked 33^rd and 22^nd in the East Region, respectively and Burris will enter the meet following a pair of fourth-place efforts at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in the meet. Burris finished 17^th in the 200m at the 2023 East First Round meet, tantalizingly close to a trip to nationals.

Mouzzon is also set to represent the sprints group in the 100m and 200m with qualifying times of 11.30 and 22.85 seconds which rank 20^th and 11^th in the region each. Mouzzon's qualification is the second of her career and comes on the heels of an All-Conference effort, finishing second in the American in the 100m at last weekend's championship meet. Mouzzon also had a tremendous showing a season ago, finishing 17^th in the 100m at the regional meet.

McMillan qualified on the strength of her brilliant American Athletic Conference Championship in the 100-meter hurdles where she bested the field by a wide margin with a winning time of 13.06 seconds. McMillan has never qualified for the regional but enters the meet with the 16^th best qualifying time.

In the throws, Berquist also enters after a championship performance, tossing a winner on just her second throw of the discus at the American Championships. Her season best of 51.29m in the event ranks 37^th among qualifiers and gives the senior her third regional berth with her best performance coming in 2022 where she took 22^nd.

Last but not least, Faison is set to make her second trip to the regional meet as she enters with a best toss of 15.98m in the shot put, good for 29^th in the East. Faison took fourth at the conference in the meet.

After their electric, program-record setting performance at the conference meet, the women's 4x100m squad qualified for the meet as well with their time of 44.18 seconds. That group consisted of Mouzzon, McMillan, Rosalynd Hollingsworth and Calandra Henry in San Antonio when the quartet lowered the program record by .20 seconds.

For the competitors heading to Kentucky with dreams of going father, the calculus is simple: the top 12 performers in each event (and the top 12 teams in each relay) will advance to the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. The Pirates will be looking to end a one-year pause since Sommer Knight last represented East Carolina at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Five Pirates, One Relay Qualify for NCAA East First Round Meet in Eight Events

Players Mentioned

Rebekah Bergquist

Royal Burris

Naadiya Faison

Calandra Henry

Rosalynd Hollingsworth

Sydni McMillan

Melicia Mouzzon

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