Sterling’s Jah’mere Beasley easily advanced to the finals of the 200-meter dash at the NCAA Division 3 Championships Thursday in Rochester.
Beasley, a Rowan sophomore, ran 21.00 in the second of three heats. The winner of each heat and the next-five-fastest runners advance to the final at 3:40 p.m. on Saturday.
Beasley was in a heat with Ramapo’s Cheickna Traore, the NCAA Division 3 record holder with his 20.49 in March in Coral Gables, Fla.
Traore, the NCAA champ at 200 meters indoors in March, ran 20.71 and is the fastest qualifier. Even though Beasley is a small-Q qualifier, his 21.00 was 3rd-fastest of the 22 entrants. But he’s the No. 4 seed in the final because he didn’t win his heat. Wind was a legal 0.4.
Beasley ran his PR of 20.91 – the Rowan school record – at last year’s nationals, where he placed 5th. That makes him No. 16 in NCAA Division 3 history. Beasley is already a seven-time All-America.
Earlier Thursday, Beasley ran on Rowan’s school-record 400-meter relay team, which also advanced to Saturday’s final.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 