Palmer, Tate Advance to Quarterfinals

Thursday, May 26

Jacksonville, Fla.

All Day

Pitt

NCAA East Preliminary

Palmer, Tate Advance to Quarterfinals

5/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field

May 26, 2016

Results

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Junior Desmond Palmer and senior Chris Tate survive another day with hopes of advancing to Eugene, Ore. Palmer will compete in the 400 meter hurdles and Tate will run the 400 meter dash in the quarterfinals on Friday.

"As a coach you go into the first round of the NCAA Championships hoping that everyone that you bring to the meet will make it to the final round, but of course we all know that might not happen," head coach Alonzo Webb said. "The great thing about this meet is that it doesn't matter what you did to get to the meet, what matters is what you can do on this particular day. You want your student-athletes that come in ranked high and to be able to at least duplicate those great performances. For the others, you want them to put together the best performance of their lives and at least end their seasons or careers on a high note, leaving the meet with a feeling of accomplishment. Desmond Palmer and Chris Tate were two athletes that have legitimate opportunities to make it past the first round. They made the first step today in their preliminary round by advancing and looking to finish top three in the next round this weekend and make it to Eugene."

In his first event of the weekend, the 400 meter hurdles, Palmer finished first in his heat with a time of 51.02, good for seventh-best of the 48 total athletes. His top finish automatically qualifies him for Friday's quarterfinal, where the top 12 will punch tickets to Oregon.

Tate finished fourth in the 400 meter dash in heat five with a time of 46.41, placing him 14^th overall. He will compete in the quarterfinals on Friday at 6:15 p.m. with hopes of qualifying for nationals.

Also running in the 400 meter dash, senior Donnell Taylor finished eighth with a time of 47.32 and will not move on.

Sophomore Andin Fosam was the first Panther to compete today. In the hammer throw, Fosam recorded a 55.75m placing fourth in her heat, and 30^th overall. Her throw would not be enough to move on.

Sophomore Laila Ismail competed in the women's 400 meter hurdles, where she ran a 1:02.98 landing her 46^th overall and will not move on.

Action resumes tomorrow with freshman Grant Jones in the men's javelin at noon. Palmer will kick off the running events for Pitt in the 110 meter hurdles at 5:30 p.m.

Follow the team on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.