Navy Track Stars Set Three School Marks, Qualify for NCAA Championships

Navy Midshipmen track star Nathan Kent qualified for the NCAA championships in two events to lead five athletes in the NCAA East Region first round last weekend.

The event, in Jacksonville, Fla., was the last chance for track and field athletes to qualify for the NCAA championships.

The NCAA track and field championships are set for June 11-14 at legendary Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Navy’s athletes are set to compete at noon eastern on June 11 and 11:45 a.m. on June 13.

Kent qualified in both the 400 meters and the 4-by-400-meter relay.

Pete DeJonge, Jacques Guillaume and David Walker also qualified in the 4-by-400-meter relay. Murphy Smith earned a spot in the 10,000 meters.

About Navy’s NCAA Championship Qualifiers

Kent, a junior, completed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400 meters last year and qualified for last year’s NCAA championships.

Kent tied the program's sixth-fastest 400m time (45.99) to place 16th and advanced to the quarterfinal round. He went on to break Navy's 400m record of 45.32, which he previously set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last June, by running 45.23 and placed fourth.

Kent then pitched in to help Walker, deJonge and Guillaume qualify for nationals by clocking a school-record 3:04.05 in the 4-by-400-meter relay.

This will be just the second time under coach Jamie Cook that a Navy 4-by-400-meter relay team will compete at the NCAAs.

Smith will compete at the NCAAs for the first time in his career with a ninth-place finish in the 10,000m (29:06.20). His time ranks as the fourth fastest in program history. Smith was an East Region qualifier in the event last year.

While Guillaume will compete in the relay next weekend, he was featured in the 400-meter hurdles during the East Region. In the first round he ran a 50.94, the third-fastest time in Navy history. He later broke the school record with a 50.58 to place 17th overall. He owned the previous mark of 50.76, set at the Navy Outdoor Invitational.

Two other Navy athletes competed in the East Region.

Sheldon Ulmer competed in the high jump and played 14th with a best of 6-10.75, which was the second-best mark of his career.

Malachi Cummings debuted in the javelin where he recorded a throw of 200 feet, 10 inches to place 35th.