Crawford Joins Ugwu in Rewriting Pitt's Shot Put Record Book, Scott Advances to Quarterfinals at NCAA East First Round

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A day after Emeka Ugwu authored Pitt's first male NCAA shot put qualifier and broke a 21-year-old school record, Niya Crawford did the same on the women's side. The senior threw 16.83m (55-2.75) on her second attempt of the morning to break a program standard that had stood since Amanda Walker threw 16.80m (55-1.5) in 2005, finishing 11th in the East region and joining Walker as the only women in Pitt history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put.

The symmetry is hard to miss. On consecutive days, two Pitt throwers broke shot put records that had each stood for 21 years — both originally set in 2005. Crawford's mark advances her to Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 10-13. She had come within a centimeter of the school record on her opening throw of the day at 16.79m before erasing it on her next attempt.

Sophomore Alexandria Scott set herself up for a Saturday shot at Eugene with the day's other standout performance, finishing second in her heat of the women's 400 hurdles to advance to the quarterfinal. Scott's time of 57.29 is a personal best that moves her to No. 2 on Pitt's all-time outdoor list — a mark she had reset to No. 4 just two weeks ago at the ACC Outdoor Championships, where she clocked 57.53 in the final.

Junior Somiyah Braggs ran twice on the night and outperformed her seed in both races. In the 100 — where she entered as the 48th and final seed — Braggs ran 11.42 to finish fifth in her heat and 30th overall, climbing 18 spots from her entry position and stopping just .04 shy of her career-best. She returned less than two hours later to contest the 200, where she clocked 23.48 to finish 32nd, eight spots above her No. 40 entry seed.

Senior Jana Bruses ran the 400 hurdles at 58.50, finishing 31st in the East.

Pitt's competition resumes Friday with men's triple jumper Uri Arnon, who opens his First Round at 6:00 p.m. ET. The women's high jump semifinal, women's 4x100 relay quarterfinal and Scott's 400 hurdles quarterfinal all run Saturday. All four days of the East First Round stream on ESPN+, with live results at FlashResults.com.

NCAA East Region Preliminary Round
Thursday
Pitt Results
100 – 30. Somiyah Braggs 11.42
200 – 32. Somiyah Braggs 23.48
400 hurdles – 12. Alexandria Scott 57.29, 31. Jana Bruses 58.50
Shot put – 11. Niya Crawford 55-2.75 (16.83m)