Three New Mexico State track and field athletes — Randi Grimes, Ingrid Flores and Jordan Veney — will be going to the midwest regional meet in Lincoln, Neb., on Friday and Saturday.
Grimes will be competing in the hammer throw and javelin, Veney in the discus and Flores in the 5,000-meter run.
"It's a great feeling,"
Grimes said. "It's something I've been working on a really long time. It's a relief and an honor at the same time. I'm looking forward to representing NMSU."
All three athletes took different routes in the qualification process. Grimes knocked out the hammer throw early in the year but had to wait for the Western Athletic Conference Championships to pass the javelin with a throw of 154 feet, 4 inches. The toss was an NMSU school record.
Flores had to wait until the end of the year to find out her season would be extended, winning the 5,000-meter at the WAC championships, which granted her the trip to Lincoln.
Veney, on the other hand, set the school record in the discuss with a throw of 168 feet, 8 inches in March, qualifying for regionals early on in the Aggies' schedule. She has been waiting for the event ever since.
"It hasn't been hard staying focused, I've had to maintain my pace,"
said Veney, who's second-best throw of the year came in at just over 155 feet. "I know what I can do and I know I can do better than what I've done so far. You're just constantly building throughout the year, trying to do the best you can at the right time."
Grimes, a junior, is the oldest of all three NMSU team members going to Lincoln while Veney and Flores are both sophomores.
Assistant coach Scott Fister said that Grimes and Veney have legitimate shots at moving on to nationals later on in the summer. Top-5 finishers in each event get an automatic big to the national tournament while those who place six-through-eight will be considered for at-large bids. Grimes is ranked 12th in the region in the hammer and 13th in the javelin.
Veney will be ranked 13th in the discus.
"For the throwers, it will come down to just doing what they've been doing all year,"
Fister said. "If they do that, they will fall right in the middle of the pack and that could be good enough for national consideration."
As for Flores, the distance runner didn't even know that she had qualified for regionals until after assistant coach Paul Harkins informed her after her WAC victory.
"Yeah, she had no idea until I told her that her season would continue at least another two weeks,"
Harkins said. "I don't know if she's quite at that level where she can move on after this but we'll see. Just the experience for her will be great. And she has two more years to keep getting better."
Harkins said that he was just happy to have three athletes representing the program.
"Hopefully, it's a sign of where we're going,"
he said. "We're hoping that next year, we can get five-to-seven to regionals and keep building from there. We want to rise in our conference and become a factor on the national level."
