The road to Eugene starts in Fayetteville Wednesday at NCAA West First Round meet...
The road back to Eugene and the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships goes directly through Fayetteville, Arkansas and Lexington, Kentucky starting Wednesday for the NCAA Preliminary Rounds , commonly known as the West and East Regionals. With a starting field of 48 athletes in the individual events, and 24 teams in the relay races, the sole objective in this meet is to finish twelfth or higher to get that ticket to Eugene, Oregon. Every track event in Fayetteville and Lexington from the 100-meters up to the 1500-meters will have two rounds; a first round that cuts the field from 48 to 24, and a quarterfinal that takes it from 24 down to the advancing 12. Longer races—the 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000-meters, and 10,000-meters—have just one round to go from 48 down to 12. In the throws and horizontal jumps, all 48 athletes will simply have three attempts each to decide the advancing 12. Vertical jumps will continue to raise the bars until a top-12 is decided. Of the four Washingto...
