JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Samford men's and women's track and field team had nine individuals compete this week at the NCAA Championship East Regional hosted by North Florida after winning the Southern Conference Championship as a team in their last meet. Of the athletes competing for the Bulldogs, Bradley Franklin continues his stellar freshman campaign as he has qualified for the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track Championships.

The meet started on Wednesday afternoon as Kyle Kaufelds was the first athlete to compete for the Bulldogs in the men's javelin thrown. He needed to finish in the top-12 of the region to advance to the championship, but had a best thrown of 62.20 meters, four off his season best, as he came in 31st out of the 48-man field. Franklin came in second place in his 110-meter hurdles heat to advance to the finals which he would run on Friday afternoon while Zephaniah Carico-McLennan accomplished the same feat as he came in third in his 800-meter heat to advance to the finals.

On Thursday, Carter Ellis competed in the men's pole vault and finished 23rd after clearing 5.18 meters to see his season come to an end in the regional meet. Erin Long was the lone women's team athlete to qualify for the regional in the javelin throw, she finished in 18th after a throw of 47.97, missing out on top-12 that advance to the NCAA Championship.

The following day, the Samford jump team suffered the same fate as Ian Jones, Arthur Chitty, and Jaggerd Moore failed to advance in the men's triple jump and high jump respectively. Jones came in 38th place in the triple jump with a best of 14.72 meters while Chitty and Moore tied for 26th in the high jump after clearing 2.05 meters. Franklin shined in his 110m hurdle heat as he advanced to Eugene after finishing 5th overall with a time of 13.46 seconds as he was the lone freshman to qualify out of the East Region. Carico-McLennan closed out the event for the Dogs in the men's 800m but failed to match Franklin as he came in 23rd overall with a time of 1:51.21.

Bradley Franklin moves on the to NCAA Championship which will take place in Eugene, Oregon on June 11-14.

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