BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – North Carolina A&T senior Kayla White was a double qualifier at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Friday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
White was the top qualifier in the women's 200 meters on Friday by running a 22.94. White finished ahead of Texas' Kynnedy Flannel (22.96) and Arkansas' Payton Chadwick (23.001) during qualifying. On February 2, White ran a 22.82 at the University of Arkansas' Tyson Invitational. At the time, it was the fastest time ran in the world.
There is no one White is competing against in Saturday's 200m final who has run a time faster than 22.82.
White also qualified for the 60-meter hurdles with the third-fastest qualifying time. White finished her 60mh race in a personal-best time of 7.94. Her previous personal-best was 8.04 ran at the Tyson Invitational. White finished behind Chadwick (7.9222) and Southern Cal's Chanel Brissett (7.927) in the 60mh preliminaries.
The attention now turns to White winning two national championships on Saturday. The women's 60mh final is 4:30 p.m., Saturday at the Crossplex. The women's 200m final is at 5:50 p.m. White is guaranteed first-team All-American honors for making both finals adding to her collection of accomplishments at N.C. A&T.
She was the only Aggie to make it out of the preliminary round on Friday. Madeleine Akobundu finished just outside the top-8 qualifiers in the 60mh by finishing ninth with a personal-best time of 8.04. She finished just behind eighth-place finisher Naomi Taylor of Houston University.
Junior Akeem Sirleaf and senior Rodney Rowe failed to qualify for the men's 200m final. Sirleaf and Rowe finished 11th and 12th respectively in the men's 200m with times of 20.95 and 21.03. The cut-off qualifying time was 20.743 ran by Southern Miss' McKinley West. Michael Dickson did not qualify for the 60mh final after finishing 16th.
