West Point - The Army track & field team will have three representatives at the NCAA Championship preliminary round, as Kurt Bujewski (discus), Andrew Ferrara (800m), and Domonick Sylve (110m hurdles) will head to North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. for the East Region’s national semifinal, set to begin Thursday at Irwin Belk Track.
In previous seasons, athletes had to surpass a hard-line time or distance to qualify for the NCAA Championship. This season, however, the Army trio posted marks that ranked among the top 48 in the East Region to advance to this year’s national semifinal in Greensboro. Finalists from the East and West regions will advance to the NCAA final, hosted by University of Oregon at Hayward Field June 10-12.
Bujewski, the Patriot League discus champion, posted a personal-record heave of 52.52m at the NYC Qualifying Challenge on May 7 that ranked 35th in the region. The throw is tied for the fifth-best in Academy history and is the longest throw in the Army record book since 2006 (Caleb Wells, 52.99m). The discus throw is set to begin on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Ferrara moved from eighth to second on Army’s all-time 800m records list with a time of 1:48.57, the 19th ranked time in the East, in the qualifying round of the IC4A Championship May 14. The Torrance, Calif. native lowered his previous PR by more than two seconds to post the fastest 800m clocking since John Mickowski (1:50.23, 2008). Ferrara is the two-time defending PL outdoor 800m champion and ran the anchor leg of the 4x800m relay team that recorded a Championship record in that event. Ferrara will be open the action for the Black Knight trio, as the first round of the 800m is slated for Friday at 7:30 p.m. The finals begin on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Sylve owns the fastest time in Army outdoor history in the 110m hurdles at 13.79 and is the sixth-fastest man in the East in that event. Sylve, from Long Beach, Calif., is the Patriot League’s first three-time 110m hurdles champion, and is also the co-owner of Army’s top indoor hurdles time with a clocking of 7.85 that won him the IC4A indoor title. The first round of the 110m hurdles goes off on Friday at 4:30 p.m., with the finals slated for 7:05 p.m. on Saturday.
