EUGENE, OR - Three members of the Iona College men's and women's outdoor track and field teams are set to take on four events this week at the 2016 NCAA Championships at legendary Heyward Field hosted by the University of Oregon.
Junior Brandon Allen kicks off the events tonight (Jun. 8) in the men's 3,000-meter steeple chase semifinal at 8:02 PM ET aired live on ESPNU. ESPN'S coverage of the NCAA Championship switches begins on ESPNU at 7:30 pm and switches to ESPN2 at 8:30. The entire week's events can also be found on ESPN3 and WatchESPN.
Allen nabbed the last qualifying spot in tonight's final with a time of 8:42.83 at the semifinals in Jacksonville two weeks ago. He qualified for the 3k chase semifinal with a time of 8:48.48 at the Virginia Challenge. It was the 16th fastest in the East during the regular season and 35th fastest in the NCAA.
Should Allen advance to the final, the event takes places Friday (Jun. 10) at 8:54 pm on ESPN.
Graduate student Tara Jameson competes in her first of two events in Eugene Thursday (Jun. 9) night in the women's 10,000-meter race. Jameson ran the sixth fastest 10k time in the NCAA during the regular season (33:38.50). In Jacksonville two weeks ago, her time in the semifinals (34:10.54) was the fastest among the 24 qualifiers for Thursday’s final.
Jameson was almost equally impressive in qualifying for the women's 5,000-meter final, finishing second in the East in 16:08.91. The time is the fourth fastest among the 24 qualifiers for the final. Her regular season best of 16:16.73 at the Colonial Relays was 31st fastest in the East and 65th in the NCAA.
The women's 5k final is the penultimate event at the 2016 NCAA Championships Saturday (Jun. 11) evening at 8:25 pm. Both the 10k and 5k events and will air live on ESPN.
Junior Chartt Miller is the final Gael to represent the Maroon & Gold in Eugene. He will compete in the men's 5,000-meter final Friday (Jun. 10) at 10:25 pm on ESPN. Miller qualified by winning his heat in the semifinal round in Jacksonville last week. His time of 14:09.34 was fourth fastest in the East and fifth fastest among the 24 competitors in the final event. Miller's regular season best time of 14:01.14 came at the Colonial Relays. It ranked 92nd in the NCAA and 43rd in the East.
2016 NCAA Track and Field Championships - Iona Participants