ALLENDALE, Mich. (May 28, 2021) – Verrell McBride said his goal at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships was to advance to the final in the 200 meters and then see what happens.

So far, so good for the Oklahoma Christian sprinter. The sophomore from Norman, Okla., placed sixth in the preliminary round on Friday afternoon and his time of 21.27 seconds easily qualified him for the nine-man final, to be run at 2:20 p.m. on Saturday at the Grand Valley State University Lacrosse and Track and Field Stadium.

With a top-eight finish Saturday, McBride would secure All-America first-team honors. As long as he finishes the race, he'll make at least the All-America second-team list, which includes the ninth- through 12th-place finishers.

"Verrell really had a strong performance today," OC coach Wade Miller said. "While the weather was cold and windy, he handled it as he has all year and didn't allow it to effect his race. He and coach (Phillip) Dale worked to clean up a few things from the prelim and we are excited for the final tomorrow!"

There were two preliminary-round heats. As he hoped, McBride was in the second heat along with West Texas A&M's Benjamin Azamati, who set a Division II record in the 200-meter final in the Lone Star Conference Championships earlier this month, a race in which McBride finished second in a career-best time of 20.96 seconds.

Azamati won Friday's heat in 20.96 seconds to earn the top seed for Saturday's final. McBride finished fourth in the heat, behind Azamati, David Allen of Limestone (S.C.) and Marlin Davis of Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) but ahead of three other rivals.

The qualifiers for Saturday were Azamati, Devon Moore of Carson-Newman (Tenn.) (21.16 seconds), Allen (21.20 seconds), Blaize Holland of Metro State (Colo.) (21.24 seconds), Davis (21.25 seconds), McBride, Jonah Vigil of Adams State (Colo.) (21.31 seconds), Tevin Richardson of North Greenville (S.C.) (21.36 seconds) and Javaris Michael of Limestone (21.41 seconds).