Track and Field | 5/25/2022 8:36:00 PM
POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State long jumper Treyshon Malone qualified for the 2022 NCAA National Championships Meet Wednesday evening.
"It's been a long road to Eugene for Treyshon," remarked Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Hillary Merkley. "He's had to overcome some significant challenges over the last few years to be who he is and to finish where he did today. It's taken a lot of work for him and he's had some good people helping him get there. The hard work and the challenges have helped him mature and grow as a person. He was a focused and a confident individual today. He's earned this."
After missing out on his chance to compete at the 2020 Indoor Track and Field National Championships due to Covid-19 after qualifying, Malone will finally get his shot to prove himself against the best in the nation in Eugene, Oregon on June 8-11.
"I am feeling very excited. I have been chasing this dream of competing at a national meet for a long time and the dream of competing at Hayward in Eugene Oregon," said Malone Wednesday evening. "Coach Joe, Coach Hilary, and I are ready to take on a national meet together and come back with great results because all three of us know the job isn't done and today was about surviving the meet. Rankings at the regional meet do not mean a thing until you compete. You can go into the meet ranked at the bottom of the barrel and come out on top and be top ranked in the event you are in and not go to nationals at all. This meet is cutthroat but that's what makes it exciting to compete at. Like I said I am very happy to be going to [Nationals], it's been a long time coming for sure and I'm ready to take on the next challenge in my athletic career.
Having this opportunity to go to another National meet is stellar to me. Being sent home a day early from the indoor national meet in 2020 hurt me emotionally. After that meet being canceled and Covid being a factor for the past year and a half I was really challenged along with coming back to ISU for a sixth year and fighting injuries during my seventh year up until April of this year. It really messed with an athletes head and worth. I'm just very grateful for the support I've had from my coaches, trainers, physical therapist, teammates, family and friends as they continued to believe in my worth and physical ability to make it to this huge stage. This moment means everything to me because I've had a lot taken from me and it finally again feels like I'm being given the opportunity to show what I can actually do. My buddy Collin told me before I competed "take what's yours" before I went to the check-in tent to compete and it meant a lot to me hear him say that because I love living in the moment. It feels good to know people believe in me and know I will thrive for something I've been chasing since my years here at ISU."
Malone finished fourth this evening competing against the top long jumpers in the western half of the United States. On his second jump of the meet, Malone lept 25-6.75 moving him to third place. The mark held up through the remainder of the competition and earned Malone a spot at the national meet in two weeks.
Shotput Competition
Zack Ramos competed at the first Regional Preliminary meet of his career Wednesday afternoon.
Going up against some of the top throwers in the nation, the Bengal sophomore threw 16.88m ) 55-4.75 to finish top 45 in the west.
