GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum men's track & field team will be represented in three events at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships, which will be held May 24-26 at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Freshman Widchard Guervil will compete in the 100 meters and 200 meters, and the 4x100-meter relay team of Jacob Acklin, Xavier Billups, Kedar Ashford and Guervil will represent the first-year Pioneer program at nationals, which are being hosted by Johnson C. Smith University.
Guervil is seeded sixth in the 100 meters with a time of 10.30 seconds, which he set in trials at the South Atlantic Conference Championship meet at the Irwin Belk Complex on April 19. Guervil is seeded 13th in the 200 meters, having run 20.97 seconds at the Tennessee Challenge on May 5. Both times were the fastest in the Southeast Region this year, and the Fort Myers, Florida native ranks second all-time on the SAC performance list in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 meters.
Guervil, who was honored as the Tusculum Male Athlete of the Year, will be making his second trip to nationals this year, after finishing fourth and earning All-America honors in the 60 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. Each of the top six finishers in the 60 meters at the Division II Indoor Championships are in the field for the 100 meters, including indoor champion Mobolade Ajomale of Academy of Art (seeded 7th), runner-up Jonte Baker of Tiffin (seeded 14th) and third-place finisher Reginald Thomas of Tiffin (seeded 11th).
The Pioneer 4x100-meter relay was the final team added to the field of 13 schools, having qualified with a time of 40.67 seconds that it set at the Tennessee Challenge. Tusculum's time of 40.67 seconds set a new SAC all-time record and was the fastest in the Southeast Region this season. The Pioneers are the first SAC relay team to qualify for outdoor nationals since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2014.
Guervil will run the 100-meter trials on Thursday, May 24 at 6:10 p.m., with the finals to be held on Saturday, May 26 at 4:45 p.m. The trials in the 200 meters will be Friday, May 25 at 5:35 p.m., followed by finals on Saturday, May 26 at 5:50 p.m. Preliminaries in the men's 4x100 relay will be at 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, May 24 with finals on Saturday, May 26 at 3:25 p.m.
