Payne, Taylor Set for NCAA Championships
6/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Schedule | Live Results | Start Lists
By The Numbers: Payne and Taylor
EUGENE, Ore. -- The 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships begin on Wednesday and Stephen F. Austin's Demi Payne and Joshua Taylor are ready to battle against the best collegiate athletes in the nation at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The talented duo will seek to become SFA's first NCAA Division I champions in any sport in school history. Taylor makes his fourth career trip to nationals with Payne appearing in the NCAA field for the third time.
Taylor starts things off for SFA in the semifinals of the men's 400-meter hurdles on Wednesday evening at 6:10 p.m. PT. The senior comes into the race with the 10th-fastest qualifying time from the regional rounds, posting a time of 50.17 seconds in the quarterfinals in Austin. He will run in lane three of the second of three heats on Wednesday with the top two in each heat and the next two fastest times automatically advancing to the event final on Friday evening.
Taylor finished seventh last year at the NCAA Championships to garner USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors. Since then, he has improved his school record time to an impressive 50.03 seconds in the event. Only .50 seconds separates Taylor from the second best qualifier this year.
"The goal for me is to go out with a bang and win the title in Eugene," said Taylor. "You don't strap up to lose. I just want to give it all to God, represent SFA and go win it. I really think I can. I'll just have to stay calm at the right times, get intense at the right times and execute the race."
Payne will also look to bring home SFA's first NCAA Division I title when she takes flight in the women's pole vault final on Thursday at 4:45 p.m. PT. Payne broke the collegiate outdoor record twice this season and comes into Track Town USA with the second-best outdoor jump in collegiate history. The junior jumped 15-5.5 (4.71m) at the SLC Championships in May, which was the new outdoor standard at the time and the fourth-highest bar cleared in the world this season.
Payne has been on fire lately, finishing as the top collegiate performer in seven straight meets dating back to April 2. Also making a trip to the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships in early March, Payne is considered one of the heavy favorites to claim the title in Eugene.
"I'm super excited to go out there and compete," said Payne. "This is the meet I've trained so hard all season to go to. I'm in and now all of the pressure is off from regionals. I can just go in and do what I know how to do now. I feel the strongest that I've felt all year so I'm feeling pretty confident. I'm just going to jump and have fun this week. If I jump a high bar it would be awesome. I'm going for the win so we'll see what happens."
The ESPN family of networks will carry all of the action over the course of the meet, both online and on broadcast. Here is the breakdown of where to watch:
Wednesday -- ESPNU (4-7:30 p.m.)
Thursday -- ESPNU (4-5:30 p.m.); ESPN (5:30-8:30 p.m.)
Friday -- ESPN (4:30-7 p.m.)
Saturday -- ESPN2 (2-4:30 p.m.)
Wednesday-Saturday -- ESPN3 (Field Events/Combined Events)
Note: All times listed are Pacific Standard.
Live results will be available here.
For more information on the meet and venue, visit NCAA.org or GoDucks.com. To follow along with everything SFA Track and Field, follow along on Twitter (@SFA_TFXC). For a breakdown of everything Payne and Taylor have accomplished during the outdoor season, check out their year By The Numbers. 
-SFA-
Demi Payne talks about the "Year of the Vault" on TrackTown Live (beginning at 27:30)
