Track And Field Heads To NCAA Postseason

Thursday, May 24

Tampa, Fla.

All Day

University of Memphis

NCAA East Preliminaries

Photo by: Joe Murphy

May 23, 2018 | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

School-record 23 Tigers to compete at NCAA East Preliminaries in Tampa.

NCAA East Preliminaries/Live Results
NCAA East Preliminaries/Live Video

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – May Madness has arrived for the University of Memphis track and field squad, and the excitement is at a fever pitch with the Tigers carrying a school-record 23 student-athletes to the meet this weekend in Tampa, Fla. USF Track and Field Stadium is the host site for the NCAA East Preliminaries.

Last week, Memphis learned that a program-record 23 athletes qualified for the NCAA postseason, surpassing the previous mark of 19 set in the 2013 outdoor campaign.

The revamped schedule – due to weather forecasts in the Tampa area – has the NCAA Preliminaries now kicking off at 7:45 a.m. (CT) Thursday with the field events. The running events begin at 11:30 a.m. (CT). Action continues on Friday and Saturday with the same start times for field and running events.

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments
"I'm excited we had 20 individual qualify, and they'll compete in 27 open events. Then, we add the two men's relays on top of that. I'm pleased because my goal was to have 20 qualifiers. We thought we could sneak in two or three more that were on the bubble, but things didn't fall our way in those cases and that happens every year. My goal was 20, and to see it come to fruition is pretty special.

"I hope this shows we're not a 'one-shot-every-three-to-four-years' program. We're trying to be competitive on a yearly basis. We hope to continue this trend (of sending double-digit number of qualifiers to NCAA postseason), but it gets harder each time around. Our consistency has helped make us a more relevant program and also has allowed us to recruit at a higher level. We need to keep building and never get complacent about where we're at."

Tigers Tidbits/What To Watch For

Trending Tigers: As head coach Kevin Robinson said, Memphis is not a "one-hit" wonder in sending large numbers to the NCAA postseason. This is the eighth-straight outdoor season and 10^th time in the last 12 years – all under Robinson – that Memphis is sending a double-digit number of athletes to the NCAA East Preliminaries. In this current eight-year run, the Tigers' average number of postseason representatives each season is 16.
Welcome Back!: Eight Tigers are making return trips to the NCAA postseason after competing in the 2017 preliminaries. Those eight performers are Michael Criticos, Davon DeMoss, Kolbeinn Gunnarsson, Naaman Norment, Adam Neelly, Ashley Pryke, Rafael Vallery and Jordan Wesner.
Other Postseason Tigers: Memphis has other athletes that have NCAA postseason experience. Martina Rodriguez Sala (2015-16), Luke Vaughn (2014-16) and Jasmine Wilson (2016) all have competed at the NCAA East Preliminaries as Tigers. Wilson also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries at Northern Illinois (2015), as did Ryan Champlin at TCU (2017) and Jarred Pasley at Southeast Missouri (2016).
First-Time Three-Timer In Throws: At the 2017 NCAA East Preliminaries, Kevin Robinson had a first in his coaching career when two sprinters – Davon DeMoss and Cera Chavez – each qualified for three events. This weekend, Robinson has a "first" three-timer in the throws with Mona Jaidi. The sophomore has qualified for women's discus, women's hammer and women's javelin.
Second Time Around: For the second-straight year, head coach Kevin Robinson has a trio of qualifiers in the men's shot put with Adam Neelly, Rafael Vallery and Luke Vaughn. The trio also is competing in the men's discus, and it is the first time under Robinson that three men's throwers qualified for the event in the same NCAA postseason.

Memphis At The NCAA East Preliminaries/Schedule

Day	Time (CT)	Event	Memphis Qualifier(s)
Thursday	11:30 a.m.	Men's 400M Hurdles	Jason Kimmet
	12:30 p.m.	Women's Javelin	Ashley Pryke
			Mona Jaidi
			Jasmine Wilson
	1 p.m.	Women's High Jump	Saida Burns-Moore
		Women's 1500M	Martina Rodriguez Sala
	1:30 p.m.	Men's 100M	Davon DeMoss
	2:20 p.m.	Men's 400M	Ryan Champlin
			Jarred Pasley
Friday	7:45 a.m.	Men's Discus	Adam Neelly
			Rafael Vallery
			Luke Vaughn
	12:15 p.m.	Women's Discus	Mona Jaidi
			Samantha Lenton
			Nina de Poorter
	12:30 p.m.	Men's 400M (if advance)	Ryan Champlin
			Jarred Pasley
	1 p.m.	Men's 100M (if advance)	Davon DeMoss
	2 p.m.	Men's 400M Hurdles (if advance)	Jason Kimmet
	2:30 p.m.	Men's 200M	Davon DeMoss
			Imri Persiado
	7 p.m.	Men's 3000M Steeplechase	Julian Sanchez-Pinto
Saturday	7:45 a.m.	Women's Hammer	Mona Jaidi
	11:30 a.m.	Women's Triple Jump	Saida Burns-Moore
		Men's 4x100M Relay
	12:15 p.m.	Women's 1500M (if advance)	Martina Rodriguez Sala
	12:30 p.m.	Men's Javelin	Michael Criticos
	1 p.m.	Men's High Jump	Jordan Wesner
			Noah Agnew
	1:05 p.m.	Men's 100M (if advance)	Davon DeMoss
	2:30 p.m.	Men's Triple Jump	Olushola Olojo
	2:55 p.m.	4x400M Relay
	4:30 p.m.	Men's Shot Put	Adam Neelly
			Rafael Vallery
			Luke Vaughn