Eight America East track and field student-athletes will compete at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship hosted by Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Competition begins Wednesday, June 8 and concludes on Saturday, June 11.
Albany's Luke Schoen will compete for the national pole vault title on the first day of the meet. The two-time All-American enters the pole vault final Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. ET with a seed mark of 5.20 meters. The senior won the America East Championship last month with a record of 5.27 meters.
Teammate Allie Beauvais, also a senior, will compete on the track in the 400 meter hurdles semifinal Wednesday at 9:30 ET. Slated to run in the second of three heats, Beauvais will need to finish in the top two of his heat or one of the next two best times overall to advance to Friday night's 7:45 ET final.
Boston U. junior Katie Matthews also hits the track Wednesday night, competing in the 10,000 meters final. She is seeded with a time of 33:50.86 and already received All-America status during the indoor season in the 5,000 meter event.
The field events continue on Thursday afternoon. Vermont freshman Nika Ouellette will throw in the first flight of the javelin trials at 4:05 ET. If she has one of the top nine throws, the America East Most Outstanding Rookie will also compete in the finals the same afternoon.
A former America East Most Outstanding Rookie and the 2011 Most Outstanding Field Performer, Allison Barwise is seeded in the high jump final at 6:30 ET Thursday. The Boston U. sophomore cleared 1.78 meters at the NCAA East Regional Meet to qualify.
Both the women's and men's 1,500 meter semifinals Thursday at 7:00 and 7:15 p.m. ET, respectively, features an America East Champion. Stony Brook's Lucy Van Dalen, seeded fifth in the event, is going for her third All-America distinction this year, having garnered the honor in both the cross country and the indoor track seasons. Binghamton's Erik van Ingen finished fifth in his heat of the National quarterfinal at the Regional Meet with a time of 3:49.22 to qualify for the men's semifinal.
Both Van Dalen and van Ingen need a top-five finish in their heat, or one of the next two top times overall, for a chance to run in Saturday's televised final.
Whitney Ford, the last of three Terriers to compete at Nationals, will participate in the first of two flights at the triple jump trials scheduled for Friday at 6:35 p.m. ET. The senior enters the event with a seed mark of 12.57 meters which she achieved at regionals.
All of the meet will be streamed live by the NCAA. CBS Sports Network will broadcast the meet live Friday night, 7:30-9:30 p.m. ET, and CBS will air the meet's conclusion Saturday afternoon from 1:00-3:00 p.m. ET.