Tech’s Nichols takes 4th in long jump at NCAA championships – LubbockOnline.com
During the first few months of her college track and field career, Monae’ Nichols was trying to break the 19-foot mark in the long jump as a freshman at Bethune-Cookman.
During the last few months of her college career, Nichols has regularly gone 22 feet and then some as a senior for Texas Tech.
On Friday, Nichols took fourth place at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, with a mark of 21 feet, 5 1/2 inches. The Lakeland, Florida product added to a banner year in which she finished second at the NCAA indoor championships and continues to rank second in the world this year based on her season-best mark.
A top-eight finish at an NCAA national meet is good for first-team all-America status, and Nichols achieved that for the third time in her two years with the Red Raiders.
“It’s always a great thing to first-team all-American, making it to the finals and getting points for the team,” she said by phone from Hayward Field, “so I was very excited for that.”
Nichols’ best jump came on her first attempt and had her in second place after the first round. Florida’s Jasmine Moore from Mansfield Lake Ridge won the competition with a mark of 22-0 3/4, also on her first attempt.
Texas’ Tyra Gittens went 21-6 3/4 in the second round, bumping Nichols to third place and former Western Texas College standout Deborah Acquah of Texas A&M pushed Gittens to third and Nichols to fourth when she went 21-8 in the fifth round.
Nichols fouled her fourth and fifth attempts. She bounced out of the pit smiling after the fourth only to see the official’s red flag.
“It was a great jump,” she said. “I’m so mad, because I’m over here (thinking), ‘Oh, that was good. That was good.’ That would’ve been the one.”
Nevertheless, Nichols has come a long way. Over the course of her college career, she competed in combined events and sprints before finding her niche in the long jump.
She transferred from Bethune-Cookman to Tech before the 2021 indoor season. She finished third and second in the long jump at last year’s Big 12 meets and second and first in the long jump in this year’s Big 12 meets.
“I’ve grown and learned about track and field a lot more,” Nichols said, “because I was very naive when I came into college. I still am somewhat, because I’m very new to jumping elite jumps, but I’m just learning and growing and I’m happy for that.”
Nichols still has one meet left in which she’ll wear the scarlet and black — the U.S. championships scheduled June 23-26, also at Hayward Field.
Thursday was day two of the four-day NCAA championships and the first day of women’s competition. Tech’s Demisha Roswell and Rosemary Chukwuma advanced automatically to Saturday’s finals with top-two finishes in their semifinal races.
Roswell ran the 100-meter hurdles in 12.93 seconds into a slight headwind, and Chukwuma ran the 100 meters in a wind-legal 10.99. Each finished second in their heats.
Chukwuma later failed to advance in the 200, her time of 22.94 being 14th out of 24 starters.
Two other Tech women earned second-team all-America status: senior Chloe Wall, who finished ninth in the pole vault, and sophomore Ruta Lasmane, who finished 16th in the long jump. Wall cleared 14-1 1/4, and Lasmane jumped 20-3.
Tech star Ruth Usoro fouled on all three of her attempts in the long jump. Usoro was last year’s NCAA champion in the triple jump both indoor and outdoor and she still has that event left on Saturday.
TEXAS TECH AND AREA ATHLETES’ SCHEDULES
All times CDT
Event finals unless noted otherwise
Thursday’s Results
WOMEN
Field Events
Pole vault: 9. Chloe Wall, 14 feet, 1 1/4 inches.
Long jump: 2. Deborah Acquah, Texas A&M (formerly Western Texas College), 21-8 (wind: 0.5 mps); 4. Monae’ Nichols, 21-5 1/2 (wind: 0.2 mps); 16. Ruta Lasmane, 20-3 (wind: 1.0 mps); Ruth Usoro, no legal jumps.
Running Events
100-meter hurdles semifinals: 7. Q-Demisha Roswell, 12.93 seconds (wind: negative 0.3 meters per second).
100 semifinals: 6. Q-Rosemary Chukwuma, 10.99 (wind: 1.0 mps).
200 semifinals: 14. Rosemary Chukwuma, 22.94 (wind: 0.9 mps).
1,600 relay semifinals: 20. Texas Tech (Nayanna Dubarry-Gay, Aneesa Scott, Kiah Dubarry-Gay, Knowledge Omovoh), 3 minutes, 36.62 seconds.
Friday’s Events
Note: Each athlete is shown with ranking in NCAA Division I and season-best mark or time. An “x” means the athlete must qualify through the previous round. An “a” means mark or time is converted to account for performances at higher altitude.
MEN
Field Events
High jump: 16. (tie) Caleb Wilborn, 7 feet, 1 3/4 inches, 7:30 p.m.
Triple jump: 8. Chris Welch, 54-0; 10. Jalen Seals, 53-7, 8:20 p.m.
Running Events
800: Moad Zahafi, 9:14 p.m.
400 hurdles: Malik Metivier, 9:27 p.m.
200: Courtney Lindsey, 9:37 p.m.
WOMEN
Combined Events
Heptathlon: 5. Callie Jones, 5,864 points, four events with start times from 3 p.m. to 9:43 p.m.
Saturday’s Events
WOMEN
Field Events
High jump: 5. Sidney Sapp, 6 feet, 2 1/4 inches, 4 p.m.
Discus: 3. Seasons Usual, 195-2; 28. Malin Smith, 183-8, 4:05 p.m.
Triple jump: 4. Ruth Usoro, 45-9; 7. Ruta Lasmane, 45-3 1/2, 4:50 p.m.
Combined Events
Heptathlon: 5. Callie Jones, 5,864 points, remaining three events with start times from 12:30 p.m. to 6:13 p.m.
Running Events
100-meter hurdles: Demisha Roswell, 5:12 p.m.
100: Rosemary Chukwuma, 5:22 p.m.