NCAA

Track & Field Earns 12 Entries to NCAA East Preliminary Round

Track & Field Earns 12 Entries to NCAA East Preliminary Round


EAST LANSING, Mich. – 12 Michigan State athletes have earned spots at next week’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field East Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Florida, as announced by the NCAA Thursday. 

Seven athletes will represent the Spartans on the men’s side, while five Spartan women will compete in Jacksonville. 

The NCAA also announced Thursday that senior multi-event duo Heath Baldwin and Ryan Talbot were among the 24 athletes selected for the decathlon at next month’s NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas. Baldwin, the decathlon school record holder, will make his third-straight trip to the national championships in the event, while Talbot has earned his second-consecutive bid. 

The NCAA East Preliminary Round, held at the University of North Florida’s Jax Track at Hodges Stadium from May 24-27, will send the top 12 performers in each event to the NCAA Championships. The NCAA West Preliminary Round will also send its top 12 finishers in each event to the NCAA Championships, held on the campus of Sacramento State University. 

Junior Joshua DeVries will open competition for the Spartans on Wednesday, May 24 in the men’s hammer throw at 10 a.m., marking his second-straight season qualifying for the NCAA First Round in the event. Rookie Colby Morlock will be the second Spartan throws representative on the men’s side, competing in the shot put at 6 p.m. Also on the field Wednesday, 2023 Big Ten Outdoor champion Trevor Stephenson will look to qualify for his third-consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championship in the pole vault at 6:30 p.m.  

Wednesday track action includes graduate student John Petruno in the men’s 1500m first round at 6:30 p.m., looking to qualify for his second-straight NCAA Outdoor Championships after earning Second-Team All-America honors in 2022. Two Spartans will make their first-career NCAA East Preliminary appearances Wednesday night, with senior Kendel Hammock in the men’s 400m hurdles first round and graduate student CarLee Stimpfel in the men’s 10,000m. Stimpfel will aim to make his first NCAA Championship at the Division I level after a decorated career at Saginaw Valley State, where he was a seven-time DII All-American. 

Newly minted women’s shot put school record holder Opal Jackson kicks off the second day of action in the event at 6 p.m., making her first NCAA East…

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