Action Begins For 3 Kats At NCAA Finals
6/10/2015 8:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Every track and field athlete dreams of reaching the NCAA Track and Field Championships at the start of the season, but only an elite few cross the finish line at Hayward Field.
Three Bearkats will be among those few, going head-to-head with the best in the country, starting today, for the chance to bring home the ultimate gold medal.
Juniors Ashley Jenkins and Danielle Demas and senior Matthew Viverette punched their tickets to Eugene, Oregon, at the NCAA West Preliminary in Austin on May 28 and 30.
Having to finish in the top 12 to secure a spot in the NCAA Track and Field Championships, Jenkins finished 11th in the hammer throw with a toss of 202 feet, 9 inches. Viverette finished with the seventh-fastest time in the men's 110-meter hurdles at 13.69 seconds and Demas placed third with a time of 13.15 in the women's 100-meter hurdles.
“It felt good to know that all your hard work has finally paid off and that one race is what made it for you,” Demas said.
The three Bearkats had never advanced past the regional meet before in their careers, though this year marked Jenkins' and Demas' second time to compete at regionals while it was Viverette's third time.
All the time spent training in the Texas heat has finally bared fruit for Jenkins, Demas and Viverette.
“You literally lay everything in the hands of God and say, 'I'm giving it everything I've got,'” Viverette said. “To know that it's good enough and to know the training is not in vain, it's unbelievable. It's really something that can't be described. It's something that has to be truly felt.”
Jenkins, Demas and Viverette admitted they never thought they would actually realize their goal of advancing to the finals this year.
“It's a goal in your head,” Jenkins said. “You're so focused on the right now and doing your best at each meet you don't really thinks about it. Wanting to do something and actually doing it is kind of two different things. You never believe it until it actually happens.”
Sam Houston track and field head coach Dave Self knew from the start the three student-athletes had a good shot at representing the university in Oregon.
“I don't know what they expected but was as a coaching staff at the beginning of the year said, 'Here are the ones that we expect to be able to make it,” Self said.
“Danielle was literally three-hundredths of a second away from qualifying last year. We tell them all the time, if you just do what you did to get there, chances are you will move on to the next round because half the people there literally go into the tank. That's one of the hard things about track. Your win-and-loss record doesn't matter. It's about what you can do today.”
It has been hard work, but Demas said all the work she has put in has been worth the time.
“Some days you love track and some days you hate it,” Demas said. “Last year, I didn't make it. I felt like something wasn't right. So I came back this year and I thought eventually this is going to pay off. This year it finally clicked. I wouldn't trade it for anything.”
Viverette will run in the 110 hurdles Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the semifinal round. If he finishes in the top eight out of the 24 competitors, he will compete on Friday in the final round. Demas will run in the 100 hurdles on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the semifinals. A top eight finish puts here in the finals Saturday. Jenkins performs in the finals of the hammer throw Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
