EUGENE, Ore. – Djimon Gumbs didn't quite find his glow Friday in discus at the NCAA Championships as he finished 22^nd in the field.

Gumbs best throw was his second of three, logging a 173-11 to finish 10^th in his heat.

Throwers were constantly toweling off their shoes and their discs as rain steadily fell throughout the day, including in warmups.

But NSU coach Mike Heimerman said the area was relatively dry during the competition, and the moisture didn't play a large role.

"Djimon's rhythm in warm ups wasn't bad, he just rushed it during the competition and tried to do too much," Heimerman said. "He didn't relax and let his technique take over.

"His last throw was actually his best technically, but the disc just fell out of his hand. It isn't the first time that's happened, it just happened to come at a bad time."

Gumbs opened with a throw of 144-10 and ended with a foul into the back of the net.

Gumbs, who entered the competition ranked 18th, could have made the final and earned an additional three throws with his personal record and NSU program mark of 193-3.

But the conditions weren't like sunny and humid Louisiana which produced his best mark at the NSU Leon Johnson Invitational.

Minnesota's Kaleb Siekmeier won the heat with a 196-10 and was one of two first-flight competitors to reach the nine-man finals.

Three throwers broke the 200-foot mark with Virginia's Claudio Romero bringing home the championship with a 217-1.

The sophomore capped his first Northwestern State season as the first male thrower in program history to compete in two events at nationals, an experience that will be tremendously beneficial going forward.

Gumbs collegiate season may be over, but he and twin Diamante Gumbs kick off a busy summer.

Djimon Gumbs plans to compete in the Commonwealth Games as a British Virgin Islands native and the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships. Diamante Gumbs will compete in those two August events and add the Central American and Caribbean Championships in a few weeks.

"This experience is huge in that it helps him for the rest of the summer," Heimerman said. "This is the biggest meet of his career, and he'll learn from this.

"He'll take away the good from this week. You never want to put a cap on anybody, but I didn't think I'd have somebody this season that threw 63 feet in the shot put and 193 feet in the discus, so Djimon was ahead of the curve this season. All three (Diamante Gumbs and Tarajh Hudson) of those guys were."

One of just two male throwers at this year's NCAA Championships competing in multiple events, Djimon Gumbs started his week with a 23^rd place finish in the shot put Wednesday.

Gumbs finishes a season in which he won two Southland Conference gold medals (shot put and discus) and was named the Male Most Valuable Player of the conference championships with 24 points scored.

The transfer from New Mexico Junior College solidified his nationals spot in both events on his final throws of the NCAA East Preliminaries.

He owns NSU's discus record (193-3) and is second in the shot put (63-0.75) after his first season.