Sophomore sprinter Ayana Fields will compete in the 200-meter and 400 m race at the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships on March 13-14 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Alabama.
Fields improved her provisional marks in both the 200 m and 400 m at Grand Valley State University’s Big Meet in February where she ran 24.29 seconds and 55.98 seconds, respectively, which ultimately punched her ticket to Birmingham.
“I had the goal of going to nationals in the 400 m and the 200 m,” Fields said. “At first, I knew I made it (to nationals) in the 200 m and then I found out I made it in the four I was like ‘Yes, finally!’”
Fields travels to Birmingham nationally ranking as 14th in the 200 m and 20th in the 400 m and as the first Cal Poly Pomona student-athlete to compete in the NCAA DII Indoor National Championships.
“I’m just really happy that I’m able to be the first one,” Fields said. “I just want to set a high standard and hopefully come back next year and do better and improve my time overall.”
Fields will first race the 400 m in the preliminary round at 4:25 p.m. (CT) and less than an hour later will toe the line again to run the preliminary round of the 200m at 5:20 p.m. (CT) on Friday, March 13.
The top finisher in each heat and the next fastest runners will move on to finals on Saturday where the 2020 Indoor National Champions and All-Americans will be crowned.
“We’re extremely excited. She’s worked really hard and she deserves it,” track and field head coach Christopher Bradford said. “She will do amazing when she gets there.”
The indoor national championships will conclude CPP’s first-ever indoor women’s track and field season.
The University of Montevallo and the city of Birmingham are co-hosting the championships that will be streamed live on www.NCAA.com.
