NCAA Championship Tickets Up for Grabs This Weekend

MEET INFORMATION
- The top-12 in each event will punch their tickets to Ausin, Texas for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in two weeks.
- The meet will be streamed live on FloTrack
- Live results will be available through the NCAA
- The meet will take place at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville.

SYRACUSE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
- Women's 10,000-meters | Paige Stoner & Laura Dickinson | Thursday, 9 p.m.
- Men's 10,000-meters | Iliass Aouani, Joe Dragon & Kevin James | Thursday, 9:40 p.m.
- Men's 110-meter hurdles | Richard Floyd | Friday, 5 p.m.
- Women's 4x100-meter relay | Cheyenne Trigg, Alexis Crosby, Dasia Pressley, Eunice Boateng | Friday, 6 p.m.
- Women's 5000-meters | Rachel Bonner | Saturday, 8:05 p.m.
- Men's 5000-meters | Matthew Scrape | Saturday, 8:45 p.m.

10k EVENT INFORMATION
- 48 runners will toe the line on Thursday night (women at 9 p.m.; men at 9:40 p.m.) in a one-race semifinal. The top-12 finishers will punch their ticket to Austin for the NCAA final in two weeks.
- Runners will also compete in the west regional in the same format, with the top-12 from each semifinal combining for 24-runner finals on June 5/6.

WOMEN'S 10k PREVIEW
Stoner has the fastest time in the east by a staggering 23 seconds and is two seconds faster than anyone in the west preliminary round. The Pottsville, Pa. native posted the nation's second-fastest time this season and one of the top-12 times in the history of the event. Stoner also has a top-10 time nationally in the 5k and steeplechase (which she won the ACC title in) this season.

Boise State's Allie Ostrander (32:06.71) was the lone person to best Stoner this year (32:07.36), however Ostrander is declared in the steeplechase and 5k and not the 10k.

While Stoner is an easy favorite to qualify to the NCAA Championships in Austin once again, teammate Laura Dickinson is also in the mix to qualify. The sophomore, who was the runner-up at the ACC Championships in the steeplechase, has the 13th-best seed time (33:37.37) in the east.

Other competitors who could challenge the Orange duo feature a number of familiar faces from ACC competition. Florida State's Militsa Mircheva has the No. 2 time in the event, her teammate Elizabeth Funderburk ranks 11th and Nortre Dame's trio of Jacqueline Gaughan, Maddy Denner and Anna Rohrer all rank in the top-20 as well. Michigan senior Erin Finn, who has been a four-time NCAA runner-up, is also in the mix.

MEN'S 10k PREVIEW
While Stoner occupies the No. 1 spot on the women's side, 'Cuse also holds the No. 2 mark in the men's race. Senior Iliass Aouani (28:25.36) set the ACC record in the event at the Stanford Invitational and is coming off back-to-back ACC titles, winning the 10k and 5k at the event.

Aouani sits five seconds behind Alabama's Gilbert Kigen. Only three athletes in the east have a seed time below 28:40. The Milan, Italy native will have a pair of teammates in the event as well. Kevin James and Joe Dragon – who both qualified for the NCAA prelims last year as well – will also race in the 10k.

Dragon (29:41.77) and James (29:46.69) James doubled in the 5 and 10k at the ACC Championships, headlined by a ninth-place finish in the 10k. Dragon turned in a ninth-place finish in the 5k, his only event of the weekend.

110-METER HURDLES EVENT INFORMATION
- Six heats of eight runners will comprise the first round, with the top-24 advancing to the quarterfinals on Saturday. The top-three in each heat plus the next-six fastest times will advance.
- Runners will also compete in the west regional in the same format, with the top-12 from each quarterfinal combining for 24-runner semi/finals on June 5/7.

MEN'S 110-METER HURDLES PREVIEW
Floyd will compete in the sixth of six heats, where his seed time of 13.96 seconds ranks fifth in the heat.

Overall top-seed Grant Holloway (13.07) of Florida is also in Floyd's heat, but the two will be as far as possible away from one another. Floyd drew in lane nine, while Holloway drew lane two. Behind Holloway, Floyd is right in the mix with the rest of the field. Jackson State senior Azariah Foster has the second-best seed time in the heat, just 0.25 seconds ahead of Floyd. Saint Francis' Dashaun Jackson (13.74), Jackson State's Loftin Keys (13.94), Hampton's Jaelen Williams (14.04), South Alabama's Junter Appling (14.04) and Navy's Clayton Thompson (14.09) round out the heat's seed times in succession.

Other people in the field besides Holloway with top seed times are Kentucky's Daniel Roberts (13.07) and South Carolina's Isaiah Moore (13.25), who will race in heat two and three, respectively.

EVENT INFORMATION
- Three heats of eight runners will comprise semifinal round, with the top-three from each heat, plus the next-three fastest times advancing to Austin.
- Runners will also compete in the west regional in the same format, with the top-12 from each quarterfinal combining for 24-team finals on June 8.

PREVIEWING THE 4x1
- Dasia Pressley, Alexis Crosby, Eunice Boateng and Cheyenne Trigg comprised the ACC Championship relay squad and are expected to compete on Saturday together as well.
- The Orange set their seed time of 45.17 at the ACC meet, with fellow conference rival Miami (43.86) in their heat as well. Eastern Michigan (45.04), Kentucky (43.11), Cincinnati (44.27), Hampton (44.81), South Carolina (43.86) and Penn State (44.59) make up the heat along with 'Cuse.
- Aside from their heat, LSU (42.93) and Alabama (43.32) hold the fastest times.

5000-METER EVENT INFORMATION
- 48 runners will toe the line on Friday night (women at 8:05 p.m.; men at 8:45 p.m.) in a two-heat semifinal. The top-five finishers in each heat plus the next-two fastest times will punch their ticket to Austin for the NCAA final in two weeks.
- Runners will also compete in the west regional in the same format, with the top-12 from each semifinal combining for 24-runner finals on June 7/8.

WOMEN'S 5k PREVIEW
- Bonner will race in the first of the two heats on Saturday night, where she owns the seventh-fastest time of the 24 runners in her heat.
- Georgia's Jessica Drop, who was a First Team All-American in the event last season, has the top-time in the heat at 15:41.53.
- Bonner is one-of-nine ACC competitors across both heats, making familiar competition for Bonner. The Orange's Paige Stoner and Laura Dickinson went 1-2 in the ACC Championship in the event, but the pair will compete in the 10k this weekend instead.

MEN'S 5k PREVIEW
- Scrape will also race in the first heat of the men's 5k.
- Furman's Aaron Templeton has the heat's best time in 13:39.39, with the bulk of the field separated by less than seven seconds. The top-seven runners in the field all have times below 13:58, but it's the next-11, including Scrape, who has a mark of 14:06.21.

NCAA Championship Tickets Up for Grabs This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Iliass Aouani

Eunice Boateng

Rachel Bonner

Alexis Crosby

Laura Dickinson

Richard Floyd

Kevin James

Dasia Pressley

Matthew Scrape

Paige Stoner

Cheyenne Trigg

Syracuse University Athletics