COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland track and field team will send 18 student-athletes, twice the amount last year and the program's most since at least 2005, for the 2019 NCAA East Regional Meet May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Florida as announced this week by the NCAA. The Terps will have athletes in action on all three days of the event held at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
The top 48 declared student athletes in an event and top 24 declared relay teams from each region are accepted into the competition, with the top 12 regional place finishers advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas June 5-8. A full list of qualifiers can be found here.
NCAA track and field fans can watch a live stream of the NCAA Division I East and/or West Preliminary Championships as FloTrack Pro subscribers. The subscription will include access to all FloTrack live broadcasts, video on-demand from all events, documentaries, technique videos and more. Coverage of the preliminary competitions will be available May 23 - 25 at www.FloTrack.com.
The women's squad has 10 student-athletes competing in eight events, while the men's squad qualified eight student-athletes competing in six events.
The Terps have seven student-athletes ranked in the top 25 of their events, and two ranked inside the top 10. Greg Thompson holds the No. 1 spot in the NCAA in the discus throw, winning seven of the events he competed in this season, placing first at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships to become Maryland's first male Big Ten Champion, and breaking the Penn Relays record to take first in one of the most prestigious meets in the country. This is Thompson's third career appearance at NCAA Regionals. Last year, Thompson was the national runner-up in the discus.
Sam Shoultz is seeded 13th in the NCAA in the high jump and has come in the top five in six of the seven events he has competed in this season, most recently finishing fourth at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. This will mark Shoultz's second appearance at NCAA Regionals.
Kameron Jones ranks 19th in the NCAA in the 400m and is also a key member of the 11th-ranked 4x400m relay team which finished third at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships last weekend and finished in the top five of every event it competed in throughout the outdoor season. Jones is also fresh off a school record-breaking performance in the 400m at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, finishing fifth at the meet with a 46.17.
Xahria Santiago is seeded ninth in the NCAA in the 400m hurdles, and is also a key member of the top-25 4x400m relay team which has broken school records all season and most recently took home sixth at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. In the 400m hurdles, Santiago has consistently finished in the top five throughout the outdoor season and most recently finished with All-Big Ten honors with a second-place performance. Last season, Santiago became Maryland's first freshman to make regionals since 2015 and will now make it in back-to-back seasons.
Alexandra Lucki currently ranks 16th in the NCAA in the 1500m and will also be an NCAA qualifier in the 5k. Lucki is coming off a fifth-place performance in the 1500m at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships and has several podium performances on the season, both in the 5k and the 1500m.
Leah Blackall is ranked 19th in the NCAA in the triple jump and has finished in the top five in every event she has competed in this outdoor season, most recently finishing second at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships and earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors.
Alice Barnsdale is ranked 21st in the NCAA in the hammer throw, winning four events in the outdoor season and finishing in the top 10 in every meet she competed in. Last weekend at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Barnsdale finished ninth with her second-best throw of the season.
Mikella Lefebvre-Oatis is ranked 24th in the NCAA in the high jump, finishing in the top five in six events throughout the outdoor season and most recently taking home fourth at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Jewel Smith is seeded 27th in the NCAA in the long jump and is coming off a podium performance in the long jump, finishing third at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Nate Moore ranks 38th in the NCAA in the high jump. Despite it being his freshman year, Moore has excelled in both the high jump and the triple jump, most recently finishing seventh in the high jump at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Also qualifying as part of the women's 4x400m relay team are Destiny Ward, Cheyenne Jones, Venida Fagan and Thaila Cooper as an alternate. Also qualifying as part of the men's 4x400m relay squad are Dashawn Morris, Aaron Robinson, Hazem Miawad and Colin Rowe as an alternate.
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