JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Kaitlyn Beans led the University of South Alabama women's track and field team on the final day of the NCAA East Region Preliminaries on Saturday, breaking a school record in the women's triple jump at Hodges Stadium to advance to the national championship.
It's the third time in as many seasons that the junior has qualified for the national meet in the event, as she finished seventh with a mark of 13.38m; that effort was nearly .2m better than the old school standard Beans set as a freshman and equaled two weeks ago at the Sun Belt Conference Championship. Needing to finish among the top 12 in the field of 48 to move on, Beans sat in seventh place after the opening round with a leap of 12.95m before posting her final mark on the second of three attempts.
"Kaitlyn is very talented, I think the key this year was that we were able to keep her healthy," said Jag head coach Paul Brueske. "In the past she has struggled with injury, [assistant] Coach [Aaron] James did a good job this year of managing her workload. Coach James and Kaitlyn made an adjustment, she was in a better position off the takeoff board and that was the difference on her second jump; she just hit it right."
In the women's shot put, LaMia Miller recorded a 14.73m mark to come in 34th place after coming into the competition as the 46th seed, while Kriszti Szabo also took part in the triple jump and was 44th in the final standings with a leap of 11.95m.
Beans will once again join Renaldo Frechou (men's hammer throw) and Jan-Low Kotze (men's discus) at the NCAA Championship — set to take place this year June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore. — after the trio represented the Jaguars at the national meet last spring. Frechou is a two-time first-team All-American, Beans has earned honorable mention All-America accolades two years in a row and Kotze was honorable mention All-America in his first trip to the championship in 2015.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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