Nelvis to compete in NCAA Indoor Track Championship

ASU student athlete Sharika Nelvis has qualified for the 2013 NCAA National Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend, and will be competing in the 200-meter run and the long jump.

The National Meet is being hosted by the University of Arkansas, and will take place this weekend in Fayetteville.

Head coach Jim Patchell is excited about the strides that both the men and women’s track teams have made, but he is also ready to continue to push for more.

“We are certainly pleased with Sharika qualifying for indoor nationals. This is the second year in a row for her, although this year she qualified in the long jump and the 200m instead of the hurdles,” Patchell said.

“ASU has had a long history of qualifying athletes for the national championships and we have historically been one of the top track and field teams in the nation. ASU has also had alumni in every Olympic games since 1972. One of the goals I had when I accepted the coaching job back in 2011 was to bring that tradition back.”

The women’s indoor track and field team took first place in the Sun Belt Conference Meet last weekend, scoring a total of 122 points as a team.

Nelvis contributed 40 of those points throughout various events. Other strong point contributors for the Conference Title came from the pole-vaulters, who placed first, second, and fifth, scoring 22 points, and from Kristina Aubert, who won the 5K and took second in the 3K.

The NCAA D1 Championships this weekend will be a competition of the best of the best.

In each event, the top 16 athletes out of all of the D1 programs in the nation qualify to compete.  
Nelvis is currently ranked 15th in the 200-m, with a time of 23.38 seconds, and is tied for 13th in the long jump, with a distance of 6.32 meters.

Regarding this weekend’s competition, Nelvis stated, “It’s not just this week, but hard work throughout the season that pays off. Training this week is actually an easy week, going into Nationals. I’m really nervous because the events I’m doing I would have never expected to do at a national level, but I’m also very excited to see how it turns out.”