UMBC

Sophomore Mercedes Jackson

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – UMBC sophomore sprinter Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown) placed 13th in the preliminary round of the 60m dash at the NCAA Track and Field Championships, Friday evening at the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas.

Aurieyall Scott from the University of Central Florida led a group of eight runners to move on to tomorrow’s finals with a time of 7.15.  Jackson missed out on advancing by just .07 after completing the sprint in a time of 7.38.

Jackson is the fourth Retriever to ever advance to the NCAA Track and Field Championships, following in the footsteps of her coach, David Bobb.  Hugeuens Jean and Cleopatra Borel also competed at the national meet with Borel winning the UMBC’s first-ever National Championship in the shot put.

Jackson gained entry to the NCAA meet with her school-record time of 7.34 which she recorded twice during the 2012-13 indoor season.  In addition, she won both the 60m dash and 200m dash competitions at the America East Championships en route to garner Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete accolades.