JACKSONVILLE—For the second time in three seasons, a Northwestern State freshman has crashed the nationals party.

After Sanaria Butler earned a spot at nationals two seasons ago, another freshman from NSU earned his spot on the big stage in the form of jumper Roy Morris.

Morris finished ninth in the 24-8.25 to advance to nationals in Oregon, his second-best jump of the season.

After the first two rounds of jumps, the freshman from Greenwood led the group of 24. But he had to wait a little longer to celebrate, as between the two groups of jumpers, the pouring rain caused a four-hour weather delay before he sat and waited to see if he'd punch his ticket to Eugene, Oregon.

"I'm extremely proud of Roy," jumps coach Alex Wills said. "He has been putting in the work all season and it paid off big time. He has shown consistency and a maturity that you don't typically see with freshmen and in a competition like this where you only get three jumps, I believe that made a big difference. Now it's time to get ready and hopefully jump a big one in Eugene."

He recorded his 24-8.25 jump on his third attempt, which took him from just outside the top five to the top spot and set him up for success as eight of the 24 from the final group surpassed Morris, but 12 advance from both regionals to the nationals and Morris settled in at ninth place.

Morris is one of three freshmen to advance to nationals from the East First Round as well as one of four non-power conference athletes to be headed to Eugene.

The NSU women aim to continue the momentum going Thursday, as four athletes—Teodora Samac (javelin), Samari Finney (long jump), Shakera Williams (shot put) and Maygan Shaw (400-meter dash)—start their journeys as they aim to follow Morris to Oregon.