Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (SIUE) jumper Brittney Gibbs finished third in the triple jump at the Canadian Olympic Trials – missing qualification for the games – on Saturday in Edmonton, Alberta, according to siuecougars.com.
Gibbs' best jump in the finals was 41 feet, 2½ inches. Automatic qualifying for the games in that event is 14.20 meters, or approximately 46 feet, 6 inches, according to athletics.ca.
“I am excited to see her blossom in the next three years,” SIUE jumps coach Joey Pacione told siuecougars.com.
Gibbs, a sophomore, is from Toronto, Ontario. She qualified for last season's NCAA West Preliminaries in May in Lawrence, Kansas, after finishing No. 27 nationally with a leap of 41-7¼. At the West Preliminaries, she recorded a personal best of 41-8¾ in finishing in 17th place. She entered the West Preliminaries as the No. 26 seed.
Another SIUE jumper took a shot at the Olympic team this month.
The Cougars' Julian Harvey finished 19th in the long jump at 24-10 during the trials on July 2 in Eugene, Oregon. He entered as the No. 22 seed.
Harvey was an All-American in that event during last month's NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene. He also won the Ohio Valley Conference indoor title in that event in February in Nashville, Tennessee. The Edwardsville native jumped 25-10¾ to win the title, a distance that also qualified him for the Olympic Trials.
“I am expecting Julian to be among the elite in the NCAA in his final year of eligibility,” Pacione said.
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