Eagles Compete at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field East Regional

Wednesday, May 22

Lexington, Ky.

6 PM

Georgia Southern University

NCAA Prelims

Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics

5/25/2024 8:40:00 PM | Track & Field/XC

Smith, Moore and Watson all have solid performances in their respective events

LEXINGTON, Ky.– Three members of the Georgia Southern track & field team competed at the NCAA East Regional hosted by the University of Kentucky.

"Proud is an understatement! Our ladies represented Georgia Southern at the NCAA regionals in a tremendous way," head coach David Neville said. "To see where they've come from since their arrival to George Southern is amazing. We had two young ladies— Imani Moore and Alanna Smith— who had never been here before and they ran and jumped with great composure. To see Imani, who came in ranked towards the bottom of competitors at this meet, finish four spots out of making it to Eugene was remarkable! I know that both of those ladies will come back stronger because of the experience here in Lexington. It was also exciting to see NaJ run as well as she did this year. There were a lot of trials trying to manage being a little bit banged up during the whole outdoor season, but she kept her composure all the way to the finish."

NaJ Watson, at regionals for the second consecutive season, ran in the 200m. Her run of 23.35 on Thursday earned her a berth in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Watson finished 21st during the quarterfinal round with a run of 23.54.

Alanna Smith competed in the 400m, placing 39th with a time of 54.40.

Imani Moore, also at regionals for the first time, finished just outside the cut off for Eugene with an impressive long jump of 6.13m, placing 16th.

"This group of ladies had an experience that they will be able to bring back to the rest of the program, and I am certain that we will be able to continue building off of this momentum," Neville added. "I also want to thank the coaching staff for the hard work that they put in this season to help this program take another step in the right direction."

While none of the three advanced to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, there was a lot to be proud of in these performances as the squad builds for the 2024-25 campaign.