Thirty-five FSU track and field athletes qualify for NCAA East preliminaries
Tim Hofmann
Seminoles.com
The Florida State track and field team will send a team comprised of 19 men and 16 women to the NCAA East Preliminaries in Bloomington, Ind., this weekend.
The Noles will also send the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams along with the women’s 4x100m relay team to the regional, which began Wednesday and concludes Sunday. The top 48 athletes from each event qualified for NCAA East Preliminary along with the top 24 relay teams. The top 12 athletes in each event from each region will qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 8-11.
“We are really excited for all of our athletes who will be competing in Bloomington. Said head coach Bob Braman. “We had several athletes who were on the bubble that made it into the field. I’m excited to see what we can do on a national stage in the coming weeks.”
The Noles will have plenty of depth going into these championships. On the men’s side, the Noles have three different events — 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash and long jump — where the team will be represented.
Highlighting the men’s squad are Trey Cunningham (110-meter hurdles) and Adriaan Wildschutt (5000-meter run; 10,000-meter run). Both have the top times in their respective events, with Cunningham clocking a 13:10 at UNF Invitational, and Wildschutt running a 27:38.54 in the 10,000-meter run.
Wildschutt also has the seventh-fastest time in the region in the 5000-meter run at 13:28.03 just behind teammate Ahmed Mohamed (13:26.11) who has the fourth-best time in the region.
On the women’s side, the Noles will be led by Lauren Ryan, Maudie Skyring and Edidiong Odiong.
Ryan is entered in both the 5000-meter run (15:30.00) and the 10,000-meter run (32:56.53). She also has the top mark in the region in the 10,000-meter run and the third-best region time in the 5000-meter run. Skyring has the second-best time in the 1500-meter run at 4:09.83.
Coming off her ACC Championship MVP award, Odiong is seeded fourth in the 100-meter dash (11.05) and fifth in the 200-meter dash (22.64). She will also be a member of the women’s 4×100-meter relay team that is seeded third (43.16).
The men compete first in the four-day event, while the women take the stage on Thursday.
