Five Pirates qualify for NCAA East first round meet in seven events

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Five members of the East Carolina track & field program have earned their way into the NCAA East First Round meet, the NCAA announced Thursday.

Royal Burris on the men’s side made the cut in the 100m and 200m while Melicia Mouzzon (100m and 200m), Sydni McMillan (100m Hurdles), Rebekah Bergquist (Discus) and Naadiya Faison (Shot Put) will represent the women.

Burris is set to compete in the regional meet for the third time in his career after running season bests of 10.19 in the 100m and 20.48 in the 200m. Those times ranked 33rd and 22nd in the East Region, respectively and Burris will enter the meet following a pair of fourth-place efforts at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in the meet. Burris finished 17th in the 200m at the 2023 East First Round meet, tantalizingly close to a trip to nationals.

Mouzzon is also set to represent the sprints group in the 100m and 200m with qualifying times of 11.30 and 22.85 seconds which rank 20th and 11th in the region each. Mouzzon’s qualification is the second of her career and comes on the heels of an All-Conference effort, finishing second in the American in the 100m at last weekend’s championship meet. Mouzzon also had a tremendous showing a season ago, finishing 17th in the 100m at the regional meet.

McMillan qualified on the strength of her brilliant American Athletic Conference Championship in the 100-meter hurdles where she bested the field by a wide margin with a winning time of 13.06 seconds. McMillan has never qualified for the regional but enters the meet with the 16th best qualifying time.

In the throws, Berquist also enters after a championship performance, tossing a winner on just her second throw of the discus at the American Championships. Her season best of 51.29m in the event ranks 37th among qualifiers and gives the senior her third regional berth with her best performance coming in 2022 where she took 22nd.

Last but not least, Faison is set to make her second trip to the regional meet as she enters with a best toss of 15.98m in the shot put, good for 29th in the East. Faison took fourth at the conference in the meet.

With all of the Pirates entering the meet doing so in individual events, the calculus is simple: the top 12 performers in each event will advance to the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The quintet will be looking to end a one-year pause since Sommer Knight last represented East Carolina at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

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