Terps Ready for NCAA Regionals

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Six University of Maryland track and field athletes are headed to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville to compete at the 2016 NCAA East Track & Field Regional Preliminary Round. The three-day meet will take place at Hodges Stadium May 26-28 with the top-48 qualifiers in each event vying for a bid to the 2016 Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Maryland Daily Schedule

Maryland NCAA East Regional Schedule
Time	Event	Division	Round	Athlete
Thursday, May 26
4:30 PM	400 Hurdles (Heat 2)	Women	First Round	Lisa Meneau
5:30 PM	1500 Meters (Heat 2)	Women	First Round	Alexandra Lucki
7:20 PM	400 Meters (Heat 1)	Women	First Round	Micha Powell
Friday, May 27
12:00 PM	Discus (Flight 3)	Women	First Round	Chioma Onyekwere
5:00 PM	High Jump (Flight 2)	Women	First Round	Peyton Wade
6:00 PM	400 Meters	Women	Quarterfinal	Micha Powell
7:30 PM	400 Hurdles	Women	Quarterfinal	Lisa Meneau
8:25 PM	200 Meters (Heat 1)	Men	First Round	Brandon Thompson
Saturday, May 28
3:30 PM	Shot Put (Flight 4)	Women	First Round	Chioma Onyekwere
6:30 PM	1500 Meters	Women	Quarterfinal	Alexandra Lucki
7:50 PM	200 Meters	Men	Quarterfinal	Brandon Thompson

A Look at the terps

Six Terps are set to compete at the Championships, with at least one Maryland athlete scheduled to participate on all three days.
Junior Lisa Meneau will be the first to compete for the Terps on Thursday, running in the 400 meter hurdles first round at 4:30 pm. Meneau is the No. 20 seed in the east after posting a career-best 57.90 at the Big Ten Championships. The Winchester, Va. native will advance to Saturday's quarterfinal with either a top-three finish in her heat or one of the next six fastest times. The quarterfinal will consist of three heats. Twelve, the top three from each quarterfinal heat plus the next best three times, after tie breaking, will qualify for Eugene. The 400 meter dash and 200 dash will follow the same format.
Sophomore Alexandra Lucki is the No. 44 seed in the first round of the women's 1500 meter run, clocking a season-best 4:23.71 at the Kehoe Twilight Meet to earn the bid. To qualify for Sunday's quarterfinal round, Lucki will need either a top-five heat finish or one of the next fastest four times. The quarterfinal will consist of two heats. Twelve, the top five from each quarterfinal heat plus the next best two times, after tie breaking, will qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Junior Micha Powell will be Maryland's final competitor on Thursday, running in the 400 meter dash first round at 7:20 pm. Powell ran a season-best and Maryland record 52.49 in the event at the Florida Relays earlier this season on March 31, and was 12^th overall in the 400 at the NCAA Indoor Championship back in March. The Toronto, Ontario native is seeded 12^th in the event.
Senior Chioma Onyekwere will kick off action for the Terps on Friday at noon, competing in her first event of the weekend in the women's discus. She is seeded 12^th in the event with a career-best and Maryland-record 54.43 meters. Saturday's first round is the lone round of competition in Jacksonville, with the best 12 marks, after tie-breaking, advancing to the finals in Eugene. Saturday's shot put, which Onyekwere is seeded 12^th, will follow the same format. Onyekwere improved her career-best in the event at the Big Ten Championships, throwing 16.85 meters to take second in the event and earn All-Big Ten honors at the championships May 13-15.
Sophomore Peyton Wade is Maryland's other field athlete competitor this weekend, as she gets set to make her second career appearance in the women's high jump Saturday at 5:00 pm. The Aurora, Ill. native is the No. 21 seed in the event, and will also need a top-12 finish to cement her spot in the finals at the NCAA Championships.
Junior Brandon Thompson will be the final Terp to take the track, as he is set to run in the men's 200 first round at 8:25 pm. The Gainesville, Fla. won't be far from home at Hodges stadium, competing as the No. 40 seed after clocking a career-best 20.97 at the Big Ten Championships.

Coach's corner

"Our goal is always to qualify as many student-athletes for post season competition as possible," said head coach Andrew Valmon. "This group worked hard to get to this level and now it's all about continuing this momentum. The door is open to continue to move through the rounds and produce some All-Americans."

a look at the field

400 Hurdles: Kentucky's Kiah Seymour is currently the top-seeded runner in the east with a seed time of 55.20 posted back on April 20. Meneau is the third fastest seed from the Big Ten set to race.
1500m: Mississippi State's Marta Freitas is currently the top-seeded runner in the nation in the event, running the fastest time of the season in the 1500 (4:11.52) at the Virginia Challenge. Freitas took 12^th in the event at last season's NCAA Championships.
400m: Miami's Shakima Wimbley is currently the top seed in the 400 with a qualifying time of 50.90 at the ACC Championships. She finished second in the east and fifth overall in the finals at last year's NCAA Championships. Notre Dame's Margaret Bamgbose is the top performer in the east from this season's Indoor Championships where she finished third. She is currently the No. 2 seed (51.11).
Discus: Kellion Knibb from Florida State is the top-seeded thrower in the east with a season-best 60.62 meters to win the ACC title. Louisville's Emmonnie Henderson is he top returner from last season's NCAA Championships, where she finished third.
High Jump: Erica Bougard (Mississippi State) is the top seed in the east and No. 2 seed in the nation with a height of 1.88 meters cleared back at the Florida Relays on March 31.
200m: LSU Mitchell-Blake Nethaneel is currently the only 200 entrant in the field with a sub-20 second seed time, as he posted a 19.95 to finish first at the SEC Championships. A time under 20.60 will likely be needed to advance.
Shot Put: Onyekwere will see several of her discus counterparts competing in the shot put on Sunday, with Mississippi sophomore Raven Saunders leading the way. The No. 1 seed leads the way with a seed throw of 18.75 meters, which ranks first in the country.

at last year's event

Then-junior Chioma Onyekwere competed in both the shot put and the discus events at last season's East Regional, finishing 17th overall in the shot put with a toss of 15.38 meters while adding a 24th place in the discus with a throw of 49.04m.
Micha Powell ran a personal best 53.48 to place 26th in the 400m run, while Peyton Wade cleared the opening high jump height to place 40th overall.
Jakub Zivec highlighted the weekend for the Terps at last season's championships, finishing fifth overall in the 1500m run with a time of 3:45.11 to qualify for the NCAA Finals.

next up

Should Maryland have any qualifiers, individuals will advance to the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships at the University of Oregon June 8-11.

-Terps-

Players Mentioned

Alexandra Lucki

Lisa Meneau

Chioma Onyekwere

Micha Powell

Brandon Thompson

Peyton Wade

Jakub Zivec

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