Marquette Track & Field Preview: 2017 NCAA Outdoor West Regional

Starting on Thursday, Marquette track and field will be in Texas competing in the 2017 NCAA Outdoor West Regional. Four Golden Eagles will be looking to advance to the finals in Eugene, Oregon, in two weeks: Brittney Feivor (10,000 meters) and Jessica Parker (800 meters) will compete for the women’s team, while John Krzyszkowski (javelin) and Daniel Armstrong (high jump) will represent the men’s team.

Krzyszkowski represents Marquette’s best chance to participate in the finals. His best javelin throw of the season (71.44 meters) has him ranked 10th in the West Region, and the top 12 in every event will advance to Oregon. In two previous trips to the Regionals, the senior from Canada missed the finals by less than seven feet each time, but his current best this season eclipses his throws from the previous regionals by a wide margin.

Armstrong will likely need to have his best performance of the season in order to advance. The Indiana native won both the indoor and outdoor Big East titles in the high jump in 2017, but his best mark of 2.17 meters has him ranked just 13th in the region. Regardless of how it does end up for him, Armstrong is only a freshman, so it will be a good experience for him as he continues to develop over the next three years.

Both of Marquette’s women competitors will face a bit of an uphill challenge in order to move forward to the finals. Parker will actually need to run twice in order to get to Oregon. She’ll need a top three finish in her heat or one of the next six best wild card times on Thursday in order to get to Friday’s quarterfinals. From there, the top three in each of the three quarterfinals plus the next best three times will advance, and this is where I should probably point out that Parker is ranked 35th in the region and fourth in her heat. Yes, that’s after she broke a 15 year old school record this season by running a 2:06:97 at the Wisconsin Alumni Classic in early May.

Feivor is ranked #36 in the West Region in the 10K at the moment, but here’s some good news: she’s #31 amongst the runners entered in this race. She ran a 34:25.78 at the Big East championships last week for a second place finish and the second best time in school history, but will likely need to trim a full minute off her time in order to finish in the top 12.

Here’s the schedule of events. Texas is going to have a live stream of the regional, but based on past experience, we can’t guarantee that any of Marquette’s athletes will make it onto the feed. I would guess that the runners have the best chance, as it’s pretty easy to just point the camera at the track.

THURSDAY, MAY 25 (Live Stream starting at 11am CT)

11am: Men’s Javelin
8:10pm: Women’s 800 Meters Heats
9pm: Women’s 10,000 Meters

FRIDAY, MAY 26 (Live Stream starting at noon CT)

6:30pm: Women’s 800 Meters Quarterfinals

SATURDAY, MAY 27 (Live Stream starting at 1pm CT)

6pm: Men’s High Jump