Gray Grabs Podium Spot At 2021 NCAA Track & Field Championships
Greensboro, NC – The Wittenberg University women's track and field duo of Alexis Gray and Alexis Johnson competed in the 2021 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships over the weekend. This was the first appearance at the outdoor championships for the pair and the first time back at an NCAA Championship meet since 2020 indoor championships were canceled due to COVID-19.
On Saturday afternoon, Gray became just the second Wittenberg Tiger from the women's squad to earn a spot on the podium, claiming a third-place finish in the 800m run in a time of 2:10.27. After shattering her own school record in qualifying on Friday with a time of 2:10.56, Gray earned All-American status by punching her ticket into the finals on Saturday afternoon.
"There will always going to be bumps in the road but never give up on your goals. You can achieve goals by reaching for the stars. Always set your goals high and work your tail off to achieve them," said Gray, "You won't always have good workouts but don't get down on yourself. The best thing that you can do is brush it off, learn as much as you can from it, and move to the next one."
Johnson wrapped up her championship meet with a 12th place finish in the long jump competition, completing a jump of 5.42 meters. Johnson punched her ticket into the long jump field with the eighth-best seed of the field with a leap of 5.81 meters.
Gray and Johnson are just the third and fourth athletes to qualify for the outdoor championships. The last Tiger from the women's track and field team earning a spot in the final meet was Brea Medlock in back-to-back years, running in the 200m dash in 2015 and the 400m in 2016.
"I am extremely proud of both these ladies. They both had to wait over a year to compete at the NCAA championships due to COVID-19. It was not easy getting back to this stage however they made the sacrifices necessary to get back there," said Head Coach Paris Hilliard, "I'm thrilled that Gray was able to come home with a 3rd place finish! That is our second-highest finish in school history I believe. My assistant coach, Brandon Litz did a great job guiding her to this point."