NSU stars James, Walker post 4-6 finish in 200 final at USA Outdoors

3-31 Amir James (2) (1)

DES MOINES, Iowa – Two Northwestern State sprint greats, 2014 senior Justin Walker and 2018 senior Amir James, finished 4-6 Sunday evening in the storm-delayed 200 meter dash final at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.

Walker, competing professionally, took fourth in 20.80. James, in his last meet officially representing Northwestern, claimed sixth in 20.818 to the 20.817 by Kenzo Cotton of Arkansas.

Ameer Webb was the winner in 20.47, followed by Kansas State’s Terrell Smith (20.74), Andrew Hudson of Texas Tech (20.797), Walker (20.789), Cotton, James, and Marqueze Washington, who cruised across in 24.67. The remaining qualifier for the finals, Michael Norman, did not start the race.

Walker and James finished 3-4 in Heat 2 of the 200 semifinals earlier Sunday to advance to the eight-man final, originally slated for 4:10 but delayed by thunderstorms until 7:20.

Walker ran 20.61 and James 20.71 into a slight headwind to earn their spots in the national final.

Both won a pair of All-America honors competing collegiately. This was James’ final competition for NSU.

James set the NSU school record, 20.41, in May at the NCAA East Preliminary Round after initially breaking it with a 20.47 at the Southland Conference Championships.

James ran the pivotal third leg of the Demons’ record-shattering 4×100 team that posted a 38.92 in the NCAA semifinals earlier this month and earned first-team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in the finals. Two years earlier, he was a second-team All-American in the 4×100 after the Demons finished 15th at the NCAA Outdoors.

Walker took third in the 200 at the 2014 NCAA Outdoors, after finishing fourth in the 100, to earn his two first-team All-America honors.

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