JACKSONVILLE, Florida—Multiple Northwestern State athletes threaten, but ultimately, could not advance on the first day of the NCAA East preliminaries on the campus of the University of North Florida.

Simon Wulff and Djimon Gumbs in the 200-meters and shot put, respectively, threatened to either reach the prelim finals or nationals.

"It's not quite the outcome we wanted but this is a very tough meet," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "Simon and Destine ran well despite their lane draws in the 200 and 400."

Gumbs tossed a 60-2.5 in the shot put in his first throw in the fourth flight. He finished 19^th out of the 48 participants, but just missed a repeat trip to nationals in the event as the top 12 head to nationals.

"Djimon was just rushing the finish on his throw which he sector fouled his last one that would have been in the top 12," Heimerman said.

The junior will have another chance at making nationals Friday, as he participates in his specialty event, the discus.

Wulff ran a 20.84 in the 200, which finished 33^rd out of 48 competitors. The top 24 in the prelims advance to Friday's regional finals, with the top 12 advancing to Austin and nationals.

Dylan Swain, running in the final individual race of his career, ran a 23.00, placing 47^th in the event.

In addition to the 200-meter dash, Wulff also ran in the 100-meters. The sophomore from Germany clocked a 10.36 in the 100, finishing 40^th in the event.

In the 400-meters, Destine-Unique Scott ran a 48.29, which placed him 43^rd.

Andrew Gilreath and Adam Lindo had solid showings in the long jump but were unable to reach the final 12 to make it to nationals.

Gilreath posted a 23-10 jump in the second flight. After the second flight, he was in position to make it, placing 12^th at the time, but he ultimately placed 28^th in the long jump.

Lindo recorded a jump of 23-5.25 to place 37^th in the event.

"Both Adam and Andrew were close on jumps that would have maybe moved them up higher," Heimerman said.

Next up for NSU is day two of the NCAA region preliminaries on Thursday as the women get its turn on the big stage, as the 100-meter hurdles kicks things off at 5 p.m.

The second and final day for the men is Friday, as the Demons participate in the discus and both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. In the discus, NSU has three athletes in the event.

"Every one of these young men competed very well and wanted more," Heimerman said. "It's just a super tough meet and you have to almost be perfect to move on. Almost all of them have another event on Friday and I know they will regroup and get after it again."