IUTF Sends 28 to NCAA East Preliminary Round

Thursday, May 25

Lexington, KY

Indiana University

NCAA East Regional

5/24/2017 2:39:00 PM | Track and Field

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University track and field team will send 28 athletes to Lexington, Ky. for the NCAA East Preliminary Round. In order to qualify for the meet, each athlete had to have been within the top 48 of their respective event in the eastern regional. The top 12 athletes in each event will then move on to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. in a couple of weeks.

Since the NCAA adopted the First Round format in 2010, the Hoosiers have sent more than 28 athletes in two different seasons. Last year IU sent 31 competitors to Jacksonville for the East Regional and five athletes advanced to the NCAA Championships.

Fast forward one season and seven Hoosiers currently rank inside the top 12 in their event, with a handful more falling just outside of the cutline. Of the 28 athletes, 11 come from the women's team and 17 hail from the men's side.

Sydney Clute will be one of the two Hoosiers in the pole vault competition. Clute, the 3-time Big Ten Champion, will enter the weekend as the top seeded vaulter. She will be joined by teammate Rachel Mather (44^th) in the quarterfinals. Action will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday evening.

Katherine Receveur and Maggie Allen both look poised for a trip Eugene as they are both seeded inside the top 10 in the 5,000m run. Receveur comes in seeded fifth, while Allen is seeded 10^th. On the men's side, three runners will compete in the 5k. Jason Crist (22^nd), Bryce Millar (26^th) and Matt Schwartzer (37^th) will all look to punch their tickets to the NCAA Championships. Both 5k quarterfinals will be run on Saturday night.

After a dramatic race at the Big Ten Championships, Joe Murphy and Jeremy Coughler are both in great shape to advance to the finals of the 3,000m steeplechase. Murphy narrowly edged out his teammate for the final medal spot a couple of weeks back, taking third in the event. Coughler was the top collegiate finisher in the event at the Penn Relays back in April. The men's quarterfinal race is slated for a 9:00 p.m. start time on Friday. Haley Harris, the 48^th seed, will run in the women's race at 8:20 p.m. on Friday night.

The throws group figures to have a busy weekend. Willie Morrison, the Big Ten runner-up in the shot, is seeded seventh in the regional in the event. Teammate David Schall is 23^rd. On the women's side, Khayla Dawson, seeded 14^th, will look to sneak her way into the finals. The men's shot competition will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and the women's flight will start at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Nakel McClinton, the school record holder in the hammer, is seeded 17^th in the event. Andrew Miller, representing the men's team, will enter the weekend seeded 32^nd. The women's hammer throw is the first event of the weekend, kicking off the meet at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. The men will follow the women's competition at 4:00 p.m. Finally, both McClinton and Morrison will also compete in the discus throw.

The 800m run will feature three Hoosiers. Kelsey Harris, seeded 25^th, and Olivia Hippensteel, ranked 26^th, will run in the first round of the women's race at 8:10 p.m. on Thursday night. Jordan Huntoon, seeded 35^th, will be in the men's first round at 8:35 p.m. Should any of the runners make the top 24 after the first round, they will advance to the quarterfinals on Friday evening.

A trio of Hoosiers will also run in the 1,500m run. Katherine Receveur (25^th) and Brenna Calder (28^th) will take to the starting line at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday with the quarterfinals taking place on Saturday evening. Kyle Mau (20^th) will run on the men's side at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday.

Indiana will send four jumpers to the East Prelims. Treyton Harris, the 10^th seeded long jumper, should be in contention for one of the coveted spots in the NCAA Finals at the beginning of June. Ari Nelson, the fourth-place finisher at the Big Ten Championships, is seeded 22^nd in the long jump. Both jumpers will compete on Thursday. Eric Bethea, the indoor Big Ten Champion, will compete in the triple jump. The sophomore is seeded 23^rd and will jump on Saturday afternoon. Paul Galas is the 34^th seeded high jumper. The men's high jump is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening.

The sprints group will send four representatives to Lexington, headlined by the 400m hurdle duo of Zach Reitzug and Diquis Manley. Both scored points at the Big Ten Championships, DQ secured third place and Zach nabbed fifth. Both are also seeded inside the top 20 of the event. The first round of the 400m hurdles will be run on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. with the quarterfinals being held at 7:15 p.m. on Friday. William Session enters the weekend as the 20^th seeded 110m hurdler. The freshman will run at 5:00 p.m. on Friday and again on Saturday if he advances. Markevious Roach, the 47^th ranked 400m dash runner, will run the first round on Thursday evening at 7:45 p.m.

Be sure to follow along with all of the action via Live Results and the Indiana University track and field team Twitter page.

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