Bell, Fletcher Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships Finals

Saturday, May 27

Jacksonville, Fl.

All Day

Murray State

NCAA East Preliminary Round

Bell, Fletcher Punch Tickets to NCAA Championships Finals

5/27/2023 8:40:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

Kayla Bell and Meghan Fletcher qualified for the NCAA Championships Finals.

Murray State track and field closed the NCAA East Preliminaries with two national qualifiers, the most number of qualifiers in a single season in 25 years.

Meghan Fletcher was the first to punch her nationals ticket by placing eighth in the high jump with a 1.77m mark. She made no error until the 1.82m bar, which would have been a new personal best and school record.

Kayla Bell's 800m run performance puts the cherry on top of the weekend. Bell secured an automatic qualifier spot by finishing third in her quarterfinal heat with a school record time of 2:04.86.

"To have two athletes moving on the Austin in Fletch and Kayla is awesome," said head coach Adam Kiesler.

"All the credit goes to those two for competing at a high level and to Coach (Kelsey) Riggins and Coach (Jordan) Johnston for preparing them for such a big moment."

Faith Bostick placed 23rd in the quarterfinals with a time of 11.60 seconds. She clocked a time of 11.26 seconds in the preliminary round to move up to second in the Racers' all-time performers list.

"To make it to the quarterfinals for Faith today was a great end to her year, but also gives her a taste of what is ahead of her," said Kiesler.

Bell and Fletcher will compete in the NCAA National Championships hosted by Texas on June seventh through 10th. Kiesler said their goal is to make some noise in Austin.