ENMU's Jones 16th in 800 preliminaries

PUEBLO, Colo. — Eastern New Mexico University sophomore Alesha Jones finished 16th out of 22 runners in Friday's preliminaries of the NCAA Division II national outdoor track women's 800 run, hosted by Colorado State-Pueblo.

Jones, from Wilcox, Ariz., posted a time of 2 minutes, 14.55 seconds to finish sixth in the first of three heats in the event. She set the school record in the event during the Lone Star Conference championships earlier this month in Canyon, Texas, with a time of 2:12.08.

The top two in each heat plus the three next-best times advance to today's final, scheduled for 6:55 p.m.

Sophomore Lovan Palmer of Lincoln (Mo.), also running in the first heat, posted Friday's best time at 2:10.36. The last qualifier, sophomore Taylor-Ashley-Bean of Virginia State, ran a time of 2:11.60.

Jones, the first Zias athlete to make it to the Division II nationals, was the school's second entrant in this year's competition. On Thursday, sophomore Kaspars Briska was 14th and fell two spots short of qualifying in the men's 3,000 steeplechase competition.