Leaps from eighth to sixth in final round with new school record
Virginia\'s Tomika Ferguson, the school-record holder in the triple jump, broke her own school record in the NCAA Championships to earn sixth place at the nationals and earn All-American honors. It is the first All-American honor of her career and the first for a Cavalier horizontal jumper since 2003. Ferguson\'s leap bested her own mark by 12 cm (4.75\").
Ferguson, who had fouled her first two jumps, stepped up and hit a 13.09m jump to move her into the finals, where she started in eighth place. In the finals, she hit a jump of 13.32m (43\' 8.50\") in the first round to move up to sixth. She was just one centimeter out of fourth place, and her sixth-place finish helped the Cavaliers finish 48th as a team at the national meet.
\"I\'m very proud of Tomika,\" said Virginia head coach Randy Bungard. \"She has dedicated to making herself a better jumper, and the progress she has made was very evident at the best venue possible--NCAAs. She is a mature competitor who came through in the clutch with a school-record jump, signs of an excellent jumper.\"
Virginia turns to outdoor action this coming weekend (Mar 16-18) at the 49er Invitational at UNC-Charlotte.