Tampa, Fla. - Youngstown State junior Chad Zallow won his 110m hurdles heat in a time of 13.75 seconds during the quarterfinals of the NCAA East Preliminary Round at the USF Track and Field Stadium on Saturday. Zallow punched his ticket to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the second straight year with his impressive performance.
On Saturday, in wet and rainy conditions, Zallow beat Indiana's William Session by .001 seconds (13.746 to 13.747 seconds) in the first of three heats to advance to the NCAA round of 24. Zallow needed to only finish in the top three of the heat to move onto the NCAA Championships which start on June 6 in Euguene, Oregon.
But Zallow left no doubt on Saturday that he is a contender running the fifth fastest time at the regional. In the rain, the first heat was called back on a false start by Auburn's Xavier Coakley. Zallow wasn't fazed and was able to win the heat to advance.
Alabama's Ruebin Williams had the best time at 13.55 seconds, Florida's Grant Holloway had the second best time at 13.58 seconds, Florida State's Trey Cunningham was third-fastest at 13.66 and LSU's Damion Thomas was just ahead of Zallow at 13.73 seconds.
The semifinals will be held on June 6 at Oregon's Historic Hayward Field. Last year at the same facility, which is known as Tracktown, Zallow placed ninth to earn second-team All-America status. He is one of 24 runners who will compete in the event.
YSU had two other athletes in action on the final day at the NCAA East Prelims. In the high jump, Arnaldo Morales was 38th clearing the bar at 2.01m. In the javelin, Tyler Donati had a best throw of 51.69m.
