SFA Ready for NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
5/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
NCAA West Preliminary Round Headquarters
Schedule of Events
Live Results
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- The talents of nine Stephen F. Austin track and field athletes will be on display this Thursday through Saturday at the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. Two Ladyjacks and seven Lumberjacks will compete in eight different events, as SFA looks to send multiple qualifiers to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the third consecutive year.
The top 48 individual event athletes and 24 relay teams in the west region will battle it out for 12 spots into the field at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships held in Eugene, Oregon from June 10-13. The east regional, held this week in Jacksonville, Florida, will also produce 12 qualifiers at each event.
The men's 4x400 meter relay team heads to Austin with the 12th fastest time in the region this year after posting 3:07.82 at the Southland Conference Championships on May 10. A combination of Joshua Taylor, My'Lik Kerley, Tedrick Hawkins, Will Gibson and Johnathan Joe will seek to become the fourth Lumberjack 4x400 squad to reach the NCAA Championships in the last five outdoor seasons. Their race will start at approximately 9:45 p.m. on Saturday evening.
One of the most decorated sprinters in SFA history, Taylor will also look to qualify individually in the 400-meter hurdles. The two-time All-American and four-time qualifier to nationals broke his own school record at the conference meet to win the SLC title. He currently holds the fifth-fastest time in the west region at 50.03 seconds.
Taylor will run on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. right after teammate Stephanie White takes to the track for the first round of the women's 400-meter hurdles at 4:30 p.m. One of the stars of the SLC Championships, White qualified after breaking her own school record with a mark of 59.00 seconds. She enters with the 21st-fastest time out of 48 women in the event.
Pole vaulters Demi Payne and Daven Murphree head into the weekend with a chance to give SFA a second straight national qualifier in the event after Colton Ross advanced out of the west last year.
Payne boasts the second best qualifying height in the region after posting the second highest outdoor jump in collegiate history at the SLC meet. She cleared 15-5.5 (4.71m) en route to a second career SLC crown. The bar was good enough for an outdoor collegiate record before Arkansas' Sandi Morris jumped a centimeter higher a week later. Both women will compete in Austin on Friday at 1:00 p.m.
Murphree, the third place performer at the SLC Championships this season, has a top jump of 17-0 (5.18m) entering the weekend. The sophomore will jump at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
Along with Taylor and White, Kerley, Jared Love and Charles Mathenge will all be in action on Thursday. Love will be in the mix in the men's 100-meter dash starting at 6:55 p.m. The sophomore used a personal best time of 10.41 seconds at the SLCs to take third. Kerley, the 20th ranked men's 400-meter participant in the field, will run at 7:45 p.m. followed by Charles Mathenge in the men's 10,000-meter run at 9:40 p.m. to close day one.
The top individual sprinters and hurdles will have to compete again on Friday evening for a spot in the NCAA Championship field. Running events pick back up beginning at 5:00 p.m. on day two.
Fans can watch all of the regional action online with a live webcast provided at TexasSports.com. Live results will also be provided by branchsportstech.com. For up-to-the-minute information on SFA's participants, follow SFA Track and Field on Twitter (@SFA_TFXC).
Tickets are available with single-day or all-session passes. Adult tickets are $35 for all-session and $15 for single-day. Youth age 17 and under and senior citizen tickets are $25 for all-session and $10 for single-day. College students may purchase discounted tickets with a valid university ID for $25 for all-session and $10 single-day. All seats are general admission.
SFA's NCAA West Preliminary Round Qualifiers
Women
Demi Payne -- Pole Vault
Stephanie White -- 400m Hurdles
Men
Jared Love -- 100m
Joshua Taylor -- 400m Hurdles
My'Lik Kerley -- 400m
Charles Mathenge -- 10,000m
Daven Murphree -- Pole Vault
Joshua Taylor, My'Lik Kerley, Tedrick Hawkins, Will Gibson, Johnathan Joe -- 4x400m
-SFA-
