Photo Provided Wheeling University sprinter Jabez Reeves runs in the 100-meter dash preliminaries during the NCAA Division II National Championships.

ALLENDALE, MI. — The NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships began on Thursday with the top track & field athletes across the country converging on Allendale, Michigan.

Among those athletes was Wheeling University Men’s Track & Field sophomore Jabez Reeves, who ran in the Men’s 100-Meter Qualifier. It was a big day for the sophomore as he took down his fifth Wheeling University school record on his way to qualifying for the 100-Meter finals on Saturday.

Reeves would compete in the event’s top heat, running against athletes from Central Missouri, Alabama-Huntsville, and Pittsburg State, among others.

Reeves’s previous season-high was 10.34 seconds in the finals of the Jesse Owens Classic, but because he had broken the school record in the Qualifier earlier that day it did not count towards school records, that mark would be 10.48, which he ran in the Qualifier of that event.

Reeves was coming off an MEC Championship event that saw him win the conference title at 10.91 seconds. He knew that he would have to be faster than that to qualify at the National Championship if he wanted to move on to Saturday’s final.

As the race began, Reeves got out to a fast start and was leading the pack through the first 30-Meters of the race.

That big advantage would prove the difference as even though competitors began to pass him down the stretch, Reeves was able to stay in the top of the pack. He would break the school record with a time of 10.37 seconds, which was good enough for third in his heat.

It was a good run, but with two more heats to go, Reeves would have to wait and see if he did enough to get into the top nine of the event. After heat two he slipped down to the fifth fastest time and dropped three more spots after heat three. However, he ended up making the cut with the eighth-fastest time at the event and advanced to Saturday’s 100-Meter Final.

The finals for the 100-Meter Dash are scheduled to be ran on Saturday, May 28th, at 3:25 PM. The top time from the Qualifier was 10.22 seconds and Reeves joins the ranks as the eighth-best runner in the Nation.