EUGENE – Day one at Hayward Field has come to a close for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Safiya John with a sensational performance through four events of seven total in the women’s heptathlon at the NCAA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
John’s performance started in her warmup with her grey long-sleeved UAPB Track & Field sweatshirt as she was spiked up early to go over the Tracktown USA hurdles to do her 100-meter hurdle prep.
Coming in at the last 24th spot in the competition, John knew she had to prove herself and get a statement across.
Running in the last section of the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles, John got off to a great start as she got out of the blocks quickly to attack the first hurdle, instantly establishing her three-step rhythm through ten hurdles to be the first to cross the finish line in her heat with a time of 13.60 seconds to set a new personal best in heptathlon 100m hurdles for 1036 points. She finished eighth overall in the hurdles.
An hour later, the heptathlon high jump was on John’s agenda, and she would compete in the first flight of jumpers.
Coming in at 1.57 meters (5-1 ¾), John was perfect in clearing the bar up until the 1.69-meter mark (5-6 ½), where she would clear on the second attempt to keep her name in the competition.
With the bar at 1.75 meters (5-8 ¾), John would foul her first two jumps with only one attempt left to stay alive. Digging deep, John cleaned up her approach and exploded into the air to catapult herself over the bar to equal her personal best for a fifth-place finish in the high jump for 916 points added to her total.
John then made her way to the throwing ring for the heptathlon shot put, where she would get three attempts.
Warming up, John would throw 11.15 meters (36-7) for her first throw before launching 12.22 meters (40-1 ¼) to record her best throw through the flight series for 676 points and a new personal best.
The 200-meter dash would be the final event of day one for John, and coming out of the third section, she would get a chance to show off her speed, power, explosiveness, and strength.
Coming to a set position with the gun going off, John got out quickly to break the stagger and come off the curve smoothly and aggressive to finish fifth in her section with a new personal best of 25.15 seconds to add 873 points to a total of 3501 points through day one to sit in seventh place.
“I didn’t expect to PR in all four events today, which I am super thankful for. It’s great competition and great energy in Eugene which propelled me to do so well on day one,” said John about her performance.
Tomorrow, John will compete in the long jump at 10:30am PT, javelin throw at 11:45am PT, and 800-meters at 4:13pm PT to complete the heptathlon with hopes of bringing hardware back to Pine Bluff.
Comments