The North Carolina A&T women’s outdoor track and field team made history.
Juniors Olivia Dowd and Spirit Morgan are heading to Eugene, Oregon, after qualifying in the women’s triple jump and high jump, respectively.
Dowd became the first women’s triple jumper in school history to make the NCAA nationals. Morgan became the first female high jumper to qualify for nationals since Kenady Wilson did it in 2021.
Dowd’s ascension to NCAA nationals is impressive. Dowd’s best 2023 outdoor jump measured 38 feet, 9 ½ inches. Later in the season, she finished 11th at the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
She did not participate during the 2024 outdoor season before her first competition of the 2025 season saw her finish 16th at N.C. State’s Raleigh Relays with a jump of 38 feet, ¼ inches in late March.
By mid-April, Dowd had exceeded 40 feet on her triple jumps, jumping 42 feet, 4 inches to win A&T’s Aggie Invitational. She won the CAA outdoor triple jump title at A&T’s Marcus T. Johnson Track with a jump of 41 feet, 8 inches.
On Saturday, Dowd jumped a personal-record 43 feet, 4 ½ inches for the fifth-best qualifying time coming out of the NCAA East region.
Meanwhile, Morgan has been showing flashes of brilliance all season. She followed up her remarkable personal-record 6-foot jump at A&T’s Aggie Invitational on April 18 by jumping a 6-foot ¾ inch personal record to win the CAA outdoor championship in the high jump.
Morgan jumped 5 feet, 11 ½ inches on Saturday to qualify for nationals with the sixth-best mark coming out of the East. The Aggies competed in two other events on Saturday.
Courtesy: North Carolina A&T Athletics
