Freshman Benjamin & 4X100 Relay Earn All-American Honors at NCAA Outdoor Championships
The Tampa native earned second team All-America in the long jump, one of three events she competed in at the Championships;
Becomes 10th USF woman to earn individual All-America honors;
Bulls’ women now with 26 All-America titles overall
EUGENE, OREGON, JUNE 11, 2021 –USF track and field freshman Shaniya Benjamin (Tampa, Fla.) and the Bulls’ 4X100-meter relay team earned second team All-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore.
It marked just the second time in program history, and the first since 2000, that the USF track and field women’s team earned at least two All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. It was the seventh time to accomplish the feat for the program overall, with the men doing so five times and last in 2015. Head coach Erik Jenkins is in his second season with the Bulls.
A 2021 American Athletic Conference champion in the long jump and 4X400 relay, Benjamin earned a pair of All-America honors Thursday in Eugene, posting a leap of 20-10 in the long jump to finish 10th and earn second team honors. She was just a half inch from finishing in the top eight and earning first team honors. Texas sophomore Tara Davis won the event with a leap of 21-11.25.
Benjamin became the 10th woman to earn individual All-America honors for USF track and field. She is the first woman to do so since Courtney Anderson earned All-America honors in the high jump in 2013 and 2014. Benjamin joins USF Hall of Famer Kerine Black in becoming the second Bull to earn All-America honors in the long jump, and becomes the first to do so at the outdoor championships. Black did so by finishing sixth at the indoor championships in 2001.
The Bulls 4×100 relay team of Zahria Allers-Liburd (Miami, Fla.), Benjamin, Gabrielle DesRosiers (Chicago, Ill.), and Kadesha Prescott (Port of Spain, Trinidad), also earned second team honors on the day, finishing 15th with a time of 44.15 in its semifinal heat at the NCAA Championships, just short of advancing to the finals.
USF women have now tallied 26 All-America honors in the program’s history. The 4X100 relay did it for the second time, having also finished eighth in 2000.
The 4×400 relay team, which won the AAC Championship, ran a time of 3:37.64 in the NCAA semifinals and did not advance to the finals. Benjamin also ran on that relay, the last of her three events on the day. The Bulls’ NCAA East Prelims time of 3:34.07 would have earned them All-America honors if duplicated in Eugene.
On the men’s side, Duncan Agyemang (Kumasi, Ghana) qualified in the 400-meter hurdles and ran a time of 52.56 in the semifinals and did not advance to the finals.
Pole vaulter Stone Baker (New Port Richey, Fla.) also advanced to the NCAA Championships with a new personal record height of 17-2 ¾ – tied for the fourth-best height in school history. He did not clear the opening height of 16-10.75 at the championships.
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About USF Track and Field
The USF track and field team has produced 22 All-America selections since 2008 and at least one All-American in nine of the last 11 years. 2016 graduate Matthew O’Neal is USF’s first six-time NCAA All-American. USF has posted two NCAA runner-up finishes since 2013 – O’Neal (triple jump, 2016) and Courtney Anderson (high jump, 2013). The Bulls hosted the 2018 NCAA Track and Field East Preliminary at the USF Track and Field Stadium and will host the 2021 AAC Outdoor Championships.
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