JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Cornell women's track & field junior Brooke Overholt has punched her ticket to the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 400-meter Hurdles after placing eighth in the quarterfinals of the event at the NCAA East Preliminary Round on Saturday evening at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

Heading into Saturday's race, Overholt was in need of a top-12 finish to secure her spot at the NCAA Championships. The top-three finishers in each heat, plus the next three fastest times, would be on their way to Eugene. Overholt placed second in her heat with a personal-best time of 57.48 to automatically qualify for the NCAA's biggest stage.

Overholt's time marked a personal-best for the second-straight race, while also improving her mark which ranks second all-time in Big Red track & field history. To date, only four other women in Ivy League Track & Field history have run a faster 400-meter Hurdles time than Overholt. She is also the first Cornell women's track & field student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the event since Taysia Radoslav '18 did so in 2017 en route to Second-Team All-America honors.

Overholt and Beatrice Juskeviciute, who previously qualified in the heptathlon, will compete at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships from June 9-12 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.