PUEBLO, Colo. – Nicquaine Henry placed fourth in his heat and 11th overall among 22 competitors in the 400-meter hurdles on night one of the Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Pueblo, Colorado. 

The senior crossed the line in a time of 51.69 seconds but ultimately missed qualifying for the finals by two places. The time is Henry's second-fastest in a Chadron State uniform, just over a tenth shy of his school-record and national-qualifying time of 51.56 two weeks ago, but well over a second faster than his 52.99 in April that earned Henry fourth at the RMAC Championships.

Running in the far outside lane eight, Henry faced the challenge of leading the stagger and having to set his own pace without seeing any runners in front of him. The Jamaican led the heat all the way up until the second-to-last hurdle before being overtaken down the stretch.  

Despite narrowly missing the finals, Henry will earn Second Team All-American honors, which are given to ninth through 12th place finishers at the national meet. That makes Henry the first All-American in the 400 hurdles event in Chadron State track and field history.  

A time of at least 51.10 seconds was needed to qualify for the finals. Eight of the nine qualifying runners clocked sub-51-second times. Henry was the last of 11 runners to cross the line in under 52 seconds. He was also the top-placing RMAC runner at the national meet. 

Henry is the first of three Chadron State student-athletes to compete at this year's national meet. Chayton Bynes will be next to compete on Friday, with the men's triple jump starting at 5:05 p.m. Trace Hanchett will compete in the men's javelin on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. (MT). 

Bynes and Hanchett were each honored with All-RMAC special awards last Monday. Bynes took home RMAC Co-Field Athlete of the Year, an award he also won a share of during the indoor track season, while Hanchett was the RMAC Co-Freshman of the Year.