Powell, Onyekwere Headed to NCAA Championships
3/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland women's track and field team will send junior Micha Powell and senior Chioma Onyekwere to the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships March 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. The two-day event hosted at the Birmingham CrossPlex will begin at 5:30 pm Friday evening and run through 5:00 pm on Saturday.
ESPN3 will stream the meet live on March 11 starting at 6:25 p.m. Eastern time and March 12 starting at 4:55 p.m. Eastern time. A re-air of the championship will take place on Sunday, March 13 starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN2 and also Wednesday, March 23 starting at 10 p.m. Eastern time on ESPNU.
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Powell is set to run in the women's 400 meter event Friday evening at 7:10 pm, and again at 4:55 pm on Saturday if she qualifies with one of the top eight times in the field. Onyekwere will compete in the women's weight throw, which is slotted to start at 7:20 pm on Friday.
Powell ran her way into the 400 meter dash qualifiers as the No. 16 seed after a career-best performance at the Big Ten Championships. Her time of 52.56 was good for a third place finish in the field at the event, as the Toronto, Ontario secured her first career bid to the Indoor Championships.
Defending 2015 indoor 400 meter champion Courtney Okolo of Texas is back to defend her title as this year's No. 1 seed (51.06). Her qualifying outpaces the field of four returning All-Americans by nearly eight tenths of a second, with 2015 Indoor & Outdoor 400 meter All-American Taylor Ellis-Watson (Arkansas) occupying the No. 2 seed at 51.84. Despite the No. 16 seed, just two tenths of a second separates Powell from a top-8 time and spot in Saturday's finals.
Onyekwere earned a berth in the weight throw as the No. 12 overall seed after a record-setting performance at the Big Ten Championships on February 27. She broke a 14-year Maryland track & field record with a personal-best toss of 21.17 meters (69'5.50”) to earn second team All-Big Ten honors.
This is the first career trip for Onyekwere to the NCAA Indoor Championships, and she will be stacked up against highly competitive but wide-open field. The top five finishers and six All-Americans from last year's weight throw have graduated, with the top returner being senior Nicole Chavis (NC State) who took sixth at the 2015 event. Chavis is the No. 3 seed this season (21.91m), with 2016 Big Ten Champion Kelsey Card (Wisconsin) earned the top seed with a mark of 22.14 meters.
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