Track and Field Ready for Run with Seven Competing Athletes at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships

WATCH (ESPN) | BROADCAST SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS | MEET CENTRAL

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Northern Arizona University track and field program will be sending seven athletes across six events to compete at the 2018 NCAA Track and Field Outdoor National Championships, Wednesday June 6 - Saturday, June 9 at the University of Oregon's historic Hayward Field.

The Lumberjacks will be represented by Brooke Andersen in the women's hammer throw, Ashley Taylor in the women's 800-meter, Helena McLeod in the women's long jump, Luis Grijalva in the men's 1500-meter, Andy Trouard in the men's 5000-meter and both Tyler Day and Matt Baxter in the men's 10,000-meter.

Overall, NAU had four males and three females advance to nationals across distance and field events. Its seven athletes make up exactly half of the 14 that the Big Sky Conference qualified and is the most the school has sent to outdoor nationals since NAU had 10 competing athletes at the 2013 national championships.

The seven qualified athletes this year is also the second-most that Northern Arizona has sent to outdoor nationals in program history.

"We're sending competitors, we're sending student-athletes that know they can compete with the best and they have been true to that this whole year," director of track and field Michael Smith said. "I think we're going to see some fantastic performances."

Grijalva will get the meet underway for NAU as he competes in the semifinals of the 1500-meter at 4:46 p.m. MST on Wednesday. He became just the fourth freshman to advance to the national championships at NAU since 2009 after he took fifth-place in his heat in the event at the West Preliminary Round.

There are two heats in total in the 1500-meter and Grijalva will have to place in the top five or have one of the two best times after the top five athletes from each heat advance. The finals of the 1500-meter is set for Friday at 5:42 p.m. MST.

Day and Baxter will close things on Wednesday for the Lumberjacks in the final of the men's 10,000-meter at 7:08 p.m. MST.

The duo enters nationals as the No. 1 (Day at 28:04.44) and No. 3 (Baxter at 28:10.05) ranked athletes in the event. Baxter took fifth and Day finished sixth in the race at the West Prelims.

The 10,000-meter will be a single heat to decide the national champion.

Northern Arizona will then have three athletes competing on Thursday in Andersen, Taylor and McLeod.

Andersen enters nationals as the NAU and Big Sky recorder holder in the hammer throw. The redshirt-senior from Vista, Calif. shattered the record books with a toss of 74.20-meters at the University of Arizona's Desert Heat Classic on April 28 and hasn't posted a mark of less than 68.63-meters this outdoor campaign.

Andersen is the top-ranked athlete in the country in the women's hammer throw competing at nationals.

She will compete in the finals of the event on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. MST. The finals consist of two flights of 12, which each athlete getting three attempts before the field is trimmed to nine finalists with an additional three throws.

After Andersen, McLeod will be up in the finals of the women's long jump at 5:30 p.m. MST.

McLeod advanced to her first NCAA championships after overcoming a cold and windy day to take 11th overall with a mark of 6.01-meters at the West Prelims.

Like Andersen, McLeod will be in the second of two seeded flights and will get three jumps before the field is cut from 24 to nine athletes for the three-jump finals.

Following McLeod will be Taylor in the semifinals of the women's 800-meter that is set for 5:44 p.m. MST. The senior from Burlington, Canada enters the NCAAs as the school record holder in the event with a time of 2:03.72 that she posted to take sixth overall at the West Preliminary Round.

She will enter the meet ranked 18th in the nation in the event.

Taylor will be in the third of three heats with the top two athletes advancing from each heat to the finals. Along with them, the next two-fastest times will also advance. The finals for the event is set for Saturday at 4:44 p.m. MST.

Possibly concluding the meet will be Andy Trouard in the men's 5000-meter on Friday at 7:25 p.m. MST. The senior from Tucson, Ariz. will be looking for his second individual national title after he won the 3,000-meter race at the NCAA Indoor National Championships in mid-March.

He enters nationals ranked No. 2 in the country in the event, trailing just Syracuse's Justyn Knight who Trouard outkicked to win his national championships in the 3,000-meter at indoors.

Like the 10,000-meter, the 3,000-meter race will have just one heat to name the national champion.

"As this year has gone on, once you realize all the accomplishments achieved it's hard to imagine how we can make it even better but I want us to finish the final meet of this collegiate year with great efforts," Smith said. "That's how we started it, that's what we've stayed true to this whole year and that is how we're going to finish it."  

Complete information on the 2018 NCAA Outdoor National Championship, including streaming (ESPN) and ticket information, can be found here.


NAU COMPETING ATHLETES

Wednesday, June 6
- 4:46 PM: Men's 1500m Semifinals (Grijalva)
- 7:08 PM: Men's 10000m FINAL (Baxter, Day)

Thursday, June 7
- 1:30 PM: Women's Hammer Throw FINAL (Andersen)
- 5:30 PM: Women's Long Jump FINAL (McLeod)
- 5:44 PM: Women's 800m Semifinals (Taylor)

Friday, June 8
- 5:42 PM: Men's 1500m FINALS (TBD)
- 7:25 PM: Men's 5000m FINALS (Trouard)

Saturday, June 9
- 4:44 PM: Women's 800m FINALS (TBD)