Marquette Track & Field Sends Three Athletes To 2018 NCAA Outdoor Regionals

The 2017-18 Marquette athletic calendar isn’t quite wrapped up yet.

We still have NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Regionals to keep us occupied, as Marquette will be sending three competitors out to California this coming weekend with the hopes of advancing to the finals in Oregon in two weeks. The top 12 finishers in each of the two regions — East and West — will be eligible for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, OR.

Sophomore Daniel Armstrong represents Marquette’s best chance of competing at the University of Oregon. Since joining the MU team, Armstrong has done nothing but establish himself as the best high jumper in the Big East, winning both indoor and outdoor titles in both of his two years of competition. Armstrong cleared 2.16 meters at the conference championships, which is the 13th best mark in the West Region. 2.16 meters is Armstrong’s best jump of the year, and with that 13th place regional ranking, he’s likely going to need to post a new season best in order to advance out of regionals.

This is the second straight outdoor regionals for Armstrong, and the same can be said for senior runner Jessica Parker. Her 800 meters time of 2:07.08 from the Wisconsin Twilight meet is the 32nd best mark in the region and 67th best in the country. Parker had the eighth best time in qualifying at regionals a year ago, but was unable to advance out of the quarterfinals. Her qualifying time last year was 2:07:77, so you’d have to wager that she should have a shot at the quarterfinals again if she can match or best her Twilight time.

Maya Marion is making her NCAA Regionals debut this year. The senior will be competing in the shot put after tossing a distance of 15.31 meters at the Wisconsin Twilight meet. That’s a new school record, but it’s only 44th best in the region this year. For Marion to advance to Oregon, she’s either going to need a lot of people to have an off day or she’s going to need to break the school record again, but by several meters this time.

Sacramento State is playing host for the regionals. Marion will be throwing at approximately 6:30pm Central on Thursday, May 24th, while Parker’s qualifying heat is scheduled for approximately 10:35pm CT. If she does well enough to advance again, she’ll be running in the quarterfinals on Friday at approximately 8:45pm CT. Armstrong isn’t scheduled to compete until Saturday, May 26, with the men’s high jump set to get underway at 6pm CT. Video streaming of the event will be available through FloTrack.com.