Okeze Advances to NCAA Outdoor Quarterfinals in 200

200-Meter First Round Results

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Little Rock track and field's Charles Okeze secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Outdoor West Preliminary on Friday night at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State.
 
Needing to earn a top-three finish in his heat to advance to the quarterfinals, Okeze placed second with a time of 20.78. Of the 48 total runners competing on Friday, Okeze's time placed seventh overall.
 
Okeze is the third Trojan since 2012 to reach the national quarterfinals in an outdoor track event. Dez Mapps reached the quarterfinals in the 200 last year while Demond Burns did the same in 2012.
 
Okeze's shot at earning a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships will take place at 9:35 p.m. (CT) on Saturday. The field of 24 will be broken down into three heats of eight runners each. The top three from each heat and the next three fastest times will head to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 6-9.
 
In addition to the 200-meter dash, Okeze will join Travion Clark, Ch'kilas Calhoun and Keshawn Andrews in the quarterfinals of the 4x100-meter relay at 8 p.m. (CT) on Saturday.