JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - 29 members of the Penn State track & field team will compete at the NCAA East Preliminaries beginning on Wednesday in Jacksonville, Fla.
The competition schedule has been split by gender, with men's competition slated for Wednesday and Friday and women's competition scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.
With the exception of the 10,000-meter run, all track events on Wednesday and Thursday will be preliminary round competition with the chance to advance to the quarterfinals on Friday and Saturday. Field event quarterfinals will begin on Wednesday. 12 quarterfinalists from each event will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 9-12.
Eight Penn State men are slated to compete on Wednesday with Mark Porter (men's javelin) and Tyler Merkley (men's hammer throw) set to kick-off competition for the Nittany Lions at 1:30 p.m. 12 Penn State women will be in action on Thursday, beginning with Gianna Rao (women's hammer throw) and Madison Smith (women's javelin) at 1:30 p.m.
A full schedule of events can be found here.
Three Nittany Lions head to regionals coming off Big Ten Championship winning performances at last week's conference championship event. Mark Porter continued his strong season by winning gold in the men's javelin. He enters the weekend ranked eighth in the East Region in the event. David Lucas added another accomplishment to his storied Penn State career, becoming the first Penn State athlete to win the Big Ten men's discus throw championship. Maddie Holmberg added another conference title to her resume by winning her first outdoor heptathlon championship. Holmberg will compete in the women's long jump this week, as she and teammate Noah Swaby have qualified to advance to the NCAA Championships for the heptathlon and decathlon respectively.
LIVE RESULTS | CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
HEAT SHEETS: Men's | Women's
LIVE STREAM: Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday