NASHVILLE — Will the third time be the charm for Tennessee State Flying Tiger R'Lazon Brumfield as he will compete in his final NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Friday evening with a chance to reach the podium in the triple jump. 

Brumfield will hit the runway at Historic Hayward Field a little after 8:20 PM CT/ 6:20 PM PT. He is slotted in the first flight, position eight out of the 23 other competitors that advanced from the NCAA Regionals in May.

He advanced after his fifth-place finish at the NCAA East Regional where his mark of 16.02m came in his third attempt after distances of 15.93m and 15.18m in his first two chances.
  In his two previous NCAA Championship appearances, Brumfield finished 14th in 2021 and 11th in 2019. 

Brumfield set a personal-best 16.65m at the Music City Challenge at Vanderbilt on April 30.

In the regular season, Brumfield won all three of his events at the WKU Hilltopper Relays (15.62m), Kennesaw State Invitational (15.93m), and Music City Challenge. At the OVC Championship, Brumfield won his third triple jump gold medal with a 16.12m performance. 

Last season, Brumfield reached the NCAA Championships after running over conference (1st - 16.09m) and regional (1st - 16.44m) foes en route to a 14th place finish in the triple jump at Hayward Field.

Heading into his junior season of 2020, Brumfield was ready to take the OVC and NCAA by storm, but Covid-19 forced the NCAA to cancel all spring championships. 

The Jacksonville, Florida, native has come a long way since his first NCAA Outdoor Regional event in 2018 when he finished 21st with a jump of 15.29m after he placed second in the OVC Championships. The following year, 2019, Brumfield breezed through the OVC (1st - 15.07m) and the East Regional (3rd - 16.36m) before getting a chance to perform at the biggest stage in collegiate track and field, the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Brumfield did not shy away and finished 11th out of 24 competitors with a distance of 16.14m. Brumfield also advanced in the long jump competing in two separate events at the championships, where he would finish 16th.