DELAVAN, Wis. – Webster University sophomore sprinter Jacob Ridenhour (Jerseyville, Ill./Jerseyville) made history Saturday morning as he became the first-ever Gorlok track and field athlete of either gender to qualify for the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships after qualifications for next weekend's event were announced by the NCAA.
 
Ridenhour qualified for the D-III Outdoor National Championships in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes and is one of eight student-athletes to qualify in both of those sprint events at this year's Outdoor National Championships, which are being held at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, on May 23-25 and hosted by the University of Mount Union and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
 
It marks the second time this season that Ridenhour will compete in the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships as he qualified for the 60-meter dash at this year's D-III Indoor National Championships. At the indoor championships, Ridenhour finished in 11th place in the 60-meter dash, which was held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury, Mass.
 
Ridenhour will open the D-III Outdoor Championships on Thursday, May 23 with the 200-meter qualifying heats at 4:10 p.m. CT and then will compete in the 100-meter dash qualifying heats on Friday, May 24 at 2:30 p.m. CT. Finals in both events (the top eight qualifiers from the preliminaries) will be held on Saturday, May 25 with the 100-meter final scheduled for 12:40 p.m. CT and the 200-meter final is scheduled for 1:50 p.m. CT.
 
He earned spots at the national championships with the ninth fastest time in the 100-meter dash and the 10th fastest time in the 200-meter dash among the 20 competitors selected for each event. Ridenhour set a school record time in the 100 of 10.54 seconds at this Thursday's Gregory Last Chance Qualifier hosted by North Central (Ill.) College, while his school record time in the 200 of 21.36 seconds was set at this year's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships.
 
His time of 10.54 was tied for the sixth fastest 100-meter dash time this season in Division III, while his 200-meter dash was 11th best in Division III during the outdoor season.
 
Ridenhour is one three SLIAC men's track athletes that qualified in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes as in the 100 meters, Ridenhour will be joined by Principia's Corey Carter, who is seeded 10th with a time of 10.55 seconds and Greenville's Jeremiah Davis is seeded 14th with a time of 10.59 seconds. In the 200 meters, Ridenhour will be joined by Carter, who is seeded No. 2 (20.95 seconds) and Greenville's Rakim Murphy, who is seeded 16th (21.43 seconds).
 
During the outdoor season, Ridenhour won the 100-meter dash three times at the WashU Mini Meet (10.66), Dr. Keeler Invitational (10.69) and the Gregory Last Chance Qualifier (10.54) and didn't finish lower than third in the event on the season, while in the 200-meter dash, Ridenhour ran the event four times and set the school record twice and finished second the last two times he ran the event, including setting a new school record of 21.36 seconds the last time he ran the event.
 
The top eight finishers in the finals of each of the individual events at the D-D-III National Championships will earn All-American honors. Webster has never had an All-American in track and field in the program's history.
 
For each men's individual event contested, including the decathlon, the top 20 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each women's individual event contested, including the heptathlon, the top 22 declared student-athletes were accepted into the competition. For each relay event contested, the top 16 declared relay teams, one per institution, were accepted into the competition.