Women's Track and Field | May 25

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University women's track and field team's six NCAA qualifiers begin their quest to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday at the West Preliminary hosted by the University of Arkansas.
 
This is the first time since 2017 that NIU has had six preliminary round qualifiers. Of the six Huskies going to Fayetteville this week, five are making their first trip to the NCAA Preliminary. Senior Diamond Riley (St. Louis, Mo./Ritenour) is going back to the NCAA Preliminary in the triple jump after qualifying in 2019. That year she finished 32^nd with a leap of 12.33 meters. Her jump of 12.71 meters at the Mid-American Championship was a personal-best and was good enough to qualify for this week's preliminary. She won the triple jump at the Illini Open on April 9. Katrina Small (Atlanta, Ga./The St. Michael School) was third at the MAC Championship in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 12.72 meters. The duo begins competition in the first round of the triple jump at 7 p.m. Thursday night.
 
The first athlete to compete Thursday night will be senior Jazmyn Smith (Pinecrest, Fla./Gulliver Prep) in the long jump, with the first round starting at 6 p.m. Smith, who won the long jump at both the Illini Classic and Musco Twilight earlier this season, broke her own school record with a jump of 6.15 meters at the MAC Championship to finish second in the event. Also starting at 6 p.m. is s Scout Regular (St. Louis, Mo./Incarnate Word Academy) in the first round of the 100 meter hurdles. Regular won the event at the Redbird Invite and was second at the MAC Championships with a time of 13.64 seconds.
 
Sophomore Malia Watkins (Upper Marlboro, Md./Missouri State) will take the track at 7 p.m. in the first round of the 100 meters. Watkins won the 100 meters at the Musco Twilight in Iowa with a time of 11.55 seconds and also won the race at the Illini Classic. She finished third in the 100 at the MAC Championships. Sophomore Skylynn Blue (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central) will compete in the first round of the 200 meters at 8:45 p.m. Blue won the MAC title in the 200 with a time of 23.46 seconds. 
 
The NCAA West Preliminary Rounds are the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships. The top 12 in each event advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship semifinal and finals in Eugene, Oregon June 8-11.
 
--NIU--