Pitt's Evann Thompson Back Where She Belongs
6/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
PITTSBURGH -- It's been a season of ups and downs for Pitt junior hurdler Evann Thompson, but she has found her stride just in time for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she looks to compete for a national title.
Thompson qualified for her second-consecutive NCAA Championship Meet last week after performing well at the NCAA East Prelims in Jacksonville, Fla. That accomplishment, however, might have seemed unlikely after a tough start to the season.
"Evann started off slow because she had been injured during the indoor season and it didn't go according to plan for her," head coach Alonzo Webb said. "She knew that her best event of the 400 meter hurdles was coming up in the outdoor season. She has finally hit her stride and her training is going well. Her confidence is where it needs to be."
Thompson ran a 1:01.41 in the 400 meter hurdles at the Texas Relays to open her outdoor season, nearly five seconds slower than her personal-record time posted as a sophomore.
"I told her things are going to turn around and to trust the training. Once she was able to get back in the weight room and get her strength back up, it made a world a difference," Webb said.
After running a then season-best 58.56 at the Virginia Challenge on April 19, Thompson regressed with a time of 1:02.24 at the Penn Relays in late April. With the NCAA East Preliminary Meet looming just over a month away at that point, Thompson turned her season around when it mattered most.
Thompson placed second in the 400 hurdles at both the Jesse Owens Classic (58.55) on May 2, and the ACC Championship Meet (57.33) on May 16, which earned her First Team All-ACC honors. With a berth to Eugene on the line last week, Thompson ran the second fastest time of her career (57.02) at the NCAA East Preliminary Meet, which was the sixth-best time in the East Region.
Based off of NCAA Regional times, Thomson enters the NCAA Championship Meet seeded eighth overall in the 400 meter hurdles. Thompson is scheduled to run her opening heat at 6 p.m. PST on Thursday, June 11, in Eugene, Ore.
"Her experience from the NCAA Championship Meet last year will help her next week. She is seeded eighth in the country so I think it is time for her to make that final heat and do something special."