DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's track and field team begins competition at the 2022 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships on Thursday, May 12, at Western Michigan's Kanley Track. The three-day meet will continue through Saturday, May 14. 

Among the events to begin on Thursday's first day of action is the preliminary round of the 200-meter dash, where the Huskies have two of the top five ranked runners in the conference. Skylynn Blue (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) has run the fastest time in the MAC this season in the event, posting a time of 23.67 at Florida's Tom Jones Memorial in April. Malia Watkins (Upper Marlboro, Md./Missouri State) is ranked fifth in the 200 with a season-best time of 24.16 seconds. 

The pair are also ranked among the top-five in the MAC in the 100-meter dash, which will begin with preliminary heats on Friday. Watkins has the second-fastest time in the 100 at 11.55 seconds, just two one-hundredths behind Akron's Amya Clarke, while Blue has run the league's fourth-best time in the 100 at 11.66 seconds. 

Preliminary rounds in the 100-meter hurdles will also take place on Friday with NIU's Scout Regular (St. Louis, Mo./Incarnate Word Academy) coming in with the third-fastest time in the conference this season, running 13.68 at Iowa's Musco Twilight less than a month ago. 

Saturday's program will include most of the track event finals and the remaining field events, including the triple jump where the Huskies have three of the top seven ranked competitors. Diamond Riley (St. Louis, Mo./Ritenour) enters the meet with the third-best leap in the conference this year at 12.37 meters (40-07.00), while Katrina Small (Atlanta, Ga./Arkansas-Pine Bluff) is fifth (12.24m/40-02.00) and Kenyae Majors (Burlington, N.C./Hugh Cummings) is seventh (12.08m/39-07.75).

Last season, the Huskies scored 78 points at the MAC Outdoor Championships, the fourth-most in program history, as they finished sixth. Jazmyn Smith (Pinecrest, Fla./Gulliver Prep) is the defending champion in the long jump, having posted a mark of 6.05 meters (19-10.25) to win the title. 

Smith comes into this season's meet with the second-best long jump mark in the conference at 6.08 meters (19-11.50). The long jump competition will take place on Friday. 

Action at the 2022 MAC Outdoor Championships begins on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. with the 100-meter hurdles in the heptathlon. Live results throughout the weekend will be available via Finish Timing.