Eight track & field student-athletes from the America East Conference will compete for a national championship at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas beginning tomorrow. The meet, which will run through Saturday, will be streamed live at NCAAsports.com and portions will be televised live on Friday and Saturday.
University at Albany's Luke Schoen, one of four Great Dane men still competing, will begin the meet in the qualifying round of the pole vault Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. (ET). Already an indoor and outdoor All-American, the junior received an at-large bid and is seeded 17th with a height of 5.35 meters recorded on April 4.
Wednesday evening, Joe Greene and Ali Beauvais of Albany compete in the first round of the 400 meter hurdles, seeded fourth and sixth, respectively. These Great Danes are two of only six athletes coming into the meet to have recorded a time of under 50 seconds in the event during the outdoor season. Greene was an automatic qualifier after finishing in the top six during the regional in North Carolina, while Beauvais received an at-large nod.
Albany's Ricardo Estremera will participate in the 3000 meter Steeplechase semifinal at 8:15 Wednesday night after automatically qualifying in last week's regional. The America East Champion in the event is seeded 17th with a time of 8:48.87.
Both Holly and Lucy Van Dalen from Stony Brook automatically qualified in the 5000 meters and 1500 meters, respectively. Holly will run her semifinal race Wednesday at 8:40 p.m. seeded 18th (16:13.35), while Lucy, seeded fifth (4:13.72), will get her first chance on the track Thursday night at 7:55 p.m. in the semifinal round.
Boston University's Andrea Walkonen battled injury for most of the outdoor season, but is seeded second in the country going into the 10,000 meter race with her time of 33:13.66 recorded on March 28. Walkonen is already a cross country and indoor All-American this year and will be going for three in a row at the outdoor meet in Thursday night's final at 8:55 p.m.
Fellow Terrier Tahari James, just named the Northeast Women's Field Performer of the Year by the USTFCCCA, will have to wait until Friday at 3 p.m. to begin competition in the triple jump in the qualifying round. James, seeded ninth with her jump of 13.49 meters from the regional meet, earned All-America status in the same event during both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year.
For continued coverage of the NCAA Championships, including links to the live streaming video, visit the official Championship Info Site here.