GREENSBORO, N.C. - College of Charleston sophomore Emily Smith (Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern) tied for 25th place in the high jump at the NCAA Track & Field Eastern Preliminary Round on Thursday at the Irwin Bell Track at North Carolina A&T State.
Smith tied her season-best performance of 5'8½", which she set at Clemson's Orange and Purple Meet on May 7. She cleared the same height at the same venue one year earlier, hitting the 5'8½" mark at the NCAA Regionals as a freshman.
The Southern Conference runner-up in the high jump cleared her first two heights with ease. After two misses at the 5'8½" mark, Smith cleared the bar to move on to 5'10" in an attempt to tie her career-best jump. Although she was unable to reach 5'10" she finishes her sophomore year as just the second CofC athlete to qualify for two straight NCAA tournaments.
Smith did perform better than her Appalachian State counterpart and the only other student-athlete from the Southern Conference to qualify in the high jump. Rebecca Hazeltine cleared 5'6½" to tie for 29th place.
The top 12 athletes move on to the NCAA National Championships at Oregon on June 9-12. Smith was just 1½" away from qualifying and only 2¾" separated her from the first-place finisher.
