Sixteen Tigers To Compete At Next Week's NCAA East Preliminaries

Luke Vaughn, 2015-16 Men's Track and Field

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Sixteen Tigers To Compete At Next Week's NCAA East Preliminaries

May 19, 2016 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

The 16 qualifiers are a school record.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – It's a "Sweet Sixteen" for the University of Memphis track and field squads.

On Thursday, the Tigers men's and women's programs learned that a school-record 16 student-athletes earned spots for the NCAA East Preliminaries, which are slated for May 26-28 in Jacksonville, Fla. The University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium is hosting the NCAA's three-day meet.

The 16 Tigers competing at next week's NCAA East Preliminaries surpasses the previous school record of 14 set last year. Seven of this year's qualifiers are making their second-straight NCAA East Preliminaries appearance.

Senior Luis Hanssler, the three-time American Athletic Conference decathlon champion, already has qualified for the NCAA Championships, which is set for Eugene, Ore., June 8-11.

Memphis' 16 performers qualified for 18 events, with women's sophomore Martine Bye and men's junior Luke Vaughn both competing in two events. Bye qualified for the women's high jump and women's javelin, and Vaughn in the men's discus and men's shot put.

Bye is one of five Tigers women competing in a second-straight NCAA East Preliminaries. Clara Amat-Fernandez (pole vault), Carolina Carmichael (pole vault), Chardae Greenlee (triple jump) and Martina Rodriguez Sala (1500m) also are vying for NCAA Championships spots via the preliminaries for a second-consecutive year.

Dorina Baiker (pole vault), Sydney Wright (long jump) and Ashley Pryke (javelin) are making their first NCAA East Preliminaries appearances. Jasmine Wilson (javelin) earned her second NCAA postseason invitation, but her first as a Memphis Tiger. In the 2015 outdoor season, Wilson qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries as a member of the Northern Illinois University squad.

Memphis has three women competitors in both the pole vault and javelin. Memphis is one of two schools at the NCAA East Preliminaries with three qualifiers in the pole vault (Akron), and also is one of three schools with three in the javelin (Auburn, Virginia Tech).

On the men's side, joining Vaughn as a repeat NCAA East Preliminaries performer is Michael Criticos in the javelin. Juan Paul Green, who qualified in the 400 meters, made a previous NCAA postseason appearance as a member of the Illinois team in 2013.

The Tigers men have four first-time entrants into the NCAA East Preliminaries in freshmen Davon DeMoss (100m) and Jordan Wesner (high jump) and sophomores Aaron Persinger (400m hurdles) and Rafael Vallery (discus).

The Memphis men's and women's teams are coming off a rather successful American Athletic Conference Championships last weekend. Five Tigers – Carmichael (women's pole vault), Criticos (men's javelin), Greenlee (women's triple jump), Hanssler (men's decathlon) and Vaughn (men's shot put) – brought back individual crowns to the Bluff City.

In addition to the individual titles, both squads performed well. The Memphis men's team placed third at the conference meet for its second top-three finish in the last three seasons. The Tigers women's squad scored 86 points and placed seventh. The team's 86 points were the most by a Memphis women's team at a league championships meet since 1996 (102 points).