IUTF Garners 36 Entries Into NCAA East Prelim in Jacksonville

IOWA CITY, IA - 2019.05.10 - Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships

IUTF Garners 36 Entries Into NCAA East Prelim in Jacksonville

5/20/2019 2:05:00 PM | Track and Field

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— The NCAA has announced the field for the 2019 NCAA East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. at the University of North Florida. Indiana Track & Field was tabbed with 36 entries into the meet. To qualify for the East Regional Prelims, individuals had to be in the top-48 of their respective events.

Natalie Price and Rikkoi Brathwaite will represent sprints for the Hoosiers as Price will compete in the 400m after her 53.72 performance at Florida Relays. Also, at Florida Relays Brathwaite clocked his fastest time of the season in the 100m with a qualifying time of 10.26.

The cream & crimson are stacked in the 800m as nine will compete in the event. On the men's side, Daniel Kuhn, Cooper Williams, Adam Wallace, Jalen Royal, and Aaron Bennett will compete in the 800m. Kuhn, Wallace, Royal, and Bennett all used the lone home meet to their advantage to clock qualifying times while Williams earned his bid by running a 1:48.23 at Tennessee Relays this past April. In the women's field, Joely Pinkston, Kelsey Harris, Kelly Mindak, and Mallory Mulzer will represent the Hoosiers. Pinkston, Mindak, and Mulzer all set new personal bests in the event in the last meet of the season while Harris improved her qualifying spot after placing fourth in the 800m last weekend at Big Ten Championships.

Staying in middle distance, five will compete in the 1500m. Teddy Browning, Kenneth Hagen, and Joe Murphy will compete on the men's side, while Haley Harris and Claire Hamilton will be in action in the women's race.

Switching to distance, Kyle Mau is the lone Hoosier in the men's 5K as he is seeded fourth in the region. Ben Veatch, Bryce Millar, and Maggie Allen make up the 10K field. Allen is coming off of a Big Ten title in the event while Veatch finished in a strong second at conference championships.

Daniel Michlaksi and Lexa Barrott punched their tickets to Jacksonville in the steeplechase. Top seeded Daniel Michalski comes into the race after setting a personal best and winning the Penn Relays championship a few weeks ago.

Indiana will be well represented in the pole vault as Adam Coulon, Brock Mammoser, and Anna Watson earned entries to the prelims. Coulon and Watson are fresh off Big Ten titles, Coulon also won the event indoors while it was Watson's first B1G title. Mammoser took runner up at conference championships in personal best fashion.

Jyles Etienne and Hope Purcell will compete in the high jump this weekend. Etienne recorded his season best height at Big Ten Championships where he cleared a height of 2.20m (7' 2.5").
Leah Moran and Jenna Jungels make up the long jump field while Moran will also compete in the triple jump this coming weekend. The junior won her first triple jump Big Ten Championship last weekend. Eric Bethea will compete on the men's side of the triple jump as he is seeded fifth in the region.

In throws, Khayla Dawson and Maddy Pollard will compete in the shot put. Dawson set the IU program record, Iowa facility record, and had a personal best at Big Ten's where she walked away a champion. Pollard will also be in action in the discus field after setting a PR at the War Eagle Invite in April.

Nycia Ford and Nick Lane make up the hammer throw field for the Hoosiers. Ford saw a season best in the first meet of the outdoor season while Lane notched a PR at home a couple of weeks ago to secure his spot in the preliminary round.

The NCAA East Regional Prelims will begin on Thursday May 23 and wrap up on Saturday May 25.