COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland track and field team has qualified 10 athletes, the program’s most since 2008, for the 2018 NCAA East Regional Meet May 24-26 in Tampa, Fla. as announced this week by the NCAA. The Terps will have athletes in action on all three days of the event held at the USF Track and Field Stadium on the campus of the University of South Florida.
The top 48 declared student athletes in an event from each region are accepted into the competition, with the top 12 regional place finishers advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon June 6-9. A full list of qualifiers can be found here.
Three Maryland athletes are ranked in the top 5 heading into the meet including Greg Thompson who notched the No. 4 spot in the discus throw. This comes after a championship performance at the Penn Relays, where Thompson threw 61.29m (201’0) for a lifetime best and to improve on his school record to take the victory in the event. Last season at NCAAs, Thompson advanced past regionals and earned Second Team All-American honors in his first career NCAA appearance.
Sophomore Sam Shoultz has had quite the season as a Terp after transferring to Maryland this past offseason. Shoultz is seeded No. 5 in the high jump with his best clearance coming at the UVA Quad Meet, where Shoultz broke a facility record with a clearance over 2.24m (7’4 ¼”), tying the current University of Maryland school record set by Mike Pascuzzo in 1982, to earn Big Ten Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors. Shoultz continued his strong season at the Big Ten Championships last weekend, placing second, jumping 7’2 ½ to earn All-Big Ten honors and notch the highest place a Maryland male has earned since the Terps joined the Big Ten. This will mark Shoultz’s first appearance in regionals.
Freshman Xahria Santiago will participate in the regionals in the 400m hurdles, ranked No. 4 heading into the competition. Santiago placed second and earned All-Big Ten honors with a lifetime best, clocking a time of 56.69, marking the second-best time ever at Maryland. Santiago becomes the first freshman to make regionals for Maryland since Peyton Wade in 2015.
Senior Claudia Ababio has qualified in all three throwing disciplines the shot put, discus and hammer. The senior holds the No. 14 seed in the hammer, after launching a throw of 203’3” (61.95m) at the Virginia Challenge to take the honors of school record holder with a significant lifetime best performance. In the discus, Ababio stands at No. 18, recently posting a mark of 53.59m (175’10”) to finish fifth at the Big Ten Championships. The third event Ababio will compete in is the shot put, where she holds the No. 21 spot, with a mark of 15.93m.
Senior Emma O’Hara will compete in her second straight regional meet after furthering her lifetime best this season in the hammer throw. O’Hara launched the hammer 200’9” (61.19m) at the Virginia Challenge to improve on her career-high she set last year. The senior holds the No. 21 seed in the hammer throw.
Senior Kayla Richardson also earned her second straight regional bid in the long jump, this year as the No. 34 seed. Richardson earned the nod, when she set a new lifetime best with a big jump on her last attempt at the Virginia Challenge. The senior leaped to a distance of 20’3.50” (6.18m) for the victory in the competition.
Junior Jewel Smith will join Richardson in the long jump competition at the East Regional. At the USF Bulls Invitational, Smith leaped to a jump of 6.15m (20’2.25”) in the invitational section of the long jump to finish first among collegiate finishers and second overall. This marks the second year in a row Smith will compete in the long jump competition at regionals.
Senior Peyton Wade will round out her illustrious career in the NCAA Tournament, securing a spot in the fourth regional birth of her career. Wade’s season-high came at the USF Bulls Invitational, where this regional will take place, jumping to a mark of 5’10”, to notch the No. 19 spot in the east regional.
Sophomore Dallyssa Huggins holds the No. 9 seed in the high jump competition at the regionals. Last weekend at the Big Ten Championships, Huggins placed fifth in the open high jump and set a new collegiate best during the Heptathlon high jump competition. Huggins jumped 1.81m (5’11.25”) to improve her seeding to the top-ten for regionals. This marks Huggins’ first NCAA appearance.
Junior Calvin Pitney hit a qualifying mark in the pole vault when he posted a clearance of 5.10m at the Terp’s last home competition of the season.
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