JACKSONVILLE, Florida – McNeese's women's pole vault record holder, senior Nicole Casper, had her collegiate career come to an end on Friday at the 2016 NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round as her height of 13-feet, 9 ¼-inches tied her with seven other participants for 11^th place.
 
But due to her missing the height on her first two tries while two others cleared the mark on their first attempt, Casper missed out on advancing to the national championships.
 
The 13-9.25 mark is Casper's second-best vault of her career and the second-best in school history, just ¾-inches shy of her school record.
 
Another McNeese track athlete came inches away from advancing to nationals as well, literally.
 
Freshman javelin thrower Donavon Banks finished 13^th in the event with a career-best throw of 220-6. He was ranked 11^th heading into the final round of attempts before a thrower from Ohio State beat him out by 11 inches to take the 12^th and final spot to advance.
 
Meanwhile sophomore thrower Kyle Zenon placed 40^th in the event with a mark of 193-0.
 
McNeese will have one other athlete make his attempt for the nationals when John Lemke competes in the triple jump on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. CT.