Wake Forest Athletics
Merckle, White Head to NCAA Outdoor Track Championships
6/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track and Field
June 10, 2014
NCAA Outdoor Championships Schedule
By Currie McFayden, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Jessie Merckle and Sydney White are set to compete in this week's NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Merckle, who has been dominant throughout the season in the javelin throw, is set to compete on Wednesday evening at 8:15 p.m. ET. The two-time reigning ACC champion in the event qualified with a sixth-place throw of 167-8 (51.10m) at the NCAA East Regional on May 29 and will be making her first appearance at the NCAA Championships.
The Wake Forest record holder has won three events this season and has breached the 170-foot barrier three times. Her best performance came at the ACC Outdoor Championships, when Merckle logged a toss of 177-0 (53.94m) to defend her title in the event.
Like Merckle, White will also be making her inaugural appearance at the event at 6:15 p.m. ET on Friday. The sophomore narrowly avoided a jump-off at the East Regional with a 10th-place finish, smashing her own school record with a leap of 13-9.25 (4.20m) in the process. White will be seeking another impressive accomplishment in Eugene as well: the opportunity to set a new school record at four consecutive meets after doing so at the Virginia Challenge, Georgia Tech Invitational and the East Regional.
White has also had a strong outdoor campaign, winning the pole vault at the Coastal Carolina Invitational and the Virginia Challenge. She has posted nine top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place mark at the ACC Outdoor Championships.
The duo will be the first Demon Deacon representatives at the NCAA Championships since Ben Lincoln competed in the men's javelin throw in 2012. They are also the first female competitors in the outdoor national championships since Caroline Vaughn and Anna Nosenko in 2009.
Wake Forest owns four individual national championships in track and field, three by the men's squad and one by the women. Andy Bloom, who would later place fourth in the shot put at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, captured the shot put and discus throw titles in 1996, while Michael Bingham brought home the indoor 400m dash championship in 2009. Michelle Sikes won the lone national championship for the women, taking the outdoor 5,000m run crown in 2007.
Players Mentioned
