PUEBLO, Colo. – The altitude was high enough. But it didn't help David Njeri get far enough.
 
The Seattle Pacific junior went 48 feet, ½ inch on his third and final attempt of the preliminaries and finished 13th in the men's triple jump at the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships on Friday afternoon.
 
 

Njeri's mark inside the Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl at Colorado State-Pueblo had in him fourth place after the first of two preliminary flights.
 
But with a total of 19 entrants, the 10 higher seeds were all in the second flight, and they wound up taking seven of the nine available slots into the finals. Njeri came into the meet as the co-No. 14 seed with his season-best distance of 49-7¼.

Papay Glaywulu of Adams State was the winner, going exactly 53 feet on his first attempt, a mark that stool up for the rest of the afternoon.
 
The start of the competition was delayed by 50 minutes because of a mid-afternoon lightning storm, which is not uncommon at that time of day in Colorado, and in fact was in the weather forecast for the day.
 
Njeri made the very first jump of the day, going 45-0¼. That left him ninth among the nine in the first flight, and he remained there after fouling his second attempt. But he then moved all the up to fourth with his 48-0½.
 
This was Njeri's second straight trip to the nationals. Last year in Allendale, Michigan, he placed 18^th at 46 feet, 4 inches.
 
Along with making it to the NCAAs, Njeri won his second Great Northwest Athletic Conference triple jump title two weeks ago, and also won his first conference long jump crown. For the second time in his career he owns both GNAC indoor and outdoor triple jump titles simultaneously.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Division II Championships
Friday, May 26, 2023
Neta & Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl / Pueblo, Colo.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
Triple jump – 1, Papay Glaywulu (Adams State) 53-0 / 16.15m.  SPU – 13, David Njeri 48-0 ½ / 14.64m.