Ufodiama Set to Compete at NCAA Indoor Championships

GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina track & field's Kelly Ufodiama is set to become the first Pirate in nine years to compete at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships as she takes the blocks for the 60m and 200m on Friday in Virginia Beach, Va.

Ufodiama, a freshman from Round Rock, Texas, is set to compete in the 60m at 3:48 p.m. and the 200m at 5:02 p.m. on Friday. She enters the meet ranked tied for 13th and ninth in the NCAA in the respective events.

The rookie sprinter is the first East Carolina athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships since Raqurra Ishmar and Avion Jones qualified in the weight throw and high jump back in 2016 and is the first woman runner ever to qualify in an individual event.

She enters the meet after sweeping the 60m and 200m at the American Athletic Conference Championships on her way to winning Most Valuable Performer, Freshman of the Year and Most Outstanding Performance honors. Her times of 7.20 and 22.76 seconds in the events are both program records.

Some Housekeeping
The athletes finishing in the top eight in each individual event earn First Team All-American honors while those finishing 9th-16th earn Second Team accolades. Jones is the most recent Pirate to earn First Team All-American recognition indoors with a seventh-place finish in the high jump in 2015 while Ishmar earned Second Team recognition for her 11th place finish in 2016. The Pirates have never had an NCAA Champion in any event.

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Players Mentioned

Kelly Ufodiama

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