BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – North Carolina Central University senior Marvin Jones soared a career-best 2.15 meters to place 13th at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field East Preliminary Championships at Indiana University on May 25-28.
 
The 13th-place performance positioned Jones one spot away from becoming the first Eagle to qualify for the NCAA National Championships since NCCU transitioned to Division I in the summer of 2011.
 
Jones's leap of 7-feet, 0.5-inches tied with six other competitors; however, he missed qualifying due to the tiebreaking procedure, as he cleared the height on his third attempt as opposed to the first or second.
 
A native of Hillsborough, North Carolina, Jones finished his senior season with seven top-five finishes, gold medals at the indoor and outdoor MEAC championships, and victories at the Penn Relays and Aggie Classic.
 
NCCU junior Jaelyn Blanc placed 47th in the men's long jump with a 6.79m leap in his first time at the NCAA East Regional. During the season, the Hyattsville, Maryland, native earned a silver medal in the long jump with a distance of 7.63m and a bronze medal in the triple jump with a 14.78m mark at the MEAC outdoor championships.
 
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