LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Sycamores meant business when they stepped on the track Friday, as Taylor Austin and Alethia Marrero both punched their tickets for the national meet in Oregon after a stellar Day Two of the 2017 NCAA East Region Prelims.
 
Austin ran a phenomenal race in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to earn her trip to Oregon as an automatic qualifier, holding off Kentucky's Katy Kunc for the crucial third spot in Heat Three and finishing eighth overall. Austin stayed near the top of the pack for most of the race – which was won by national leader Elinor Purrier of New Hampshire at a new facility record of 9:50.51.
 
Austin took control of her own destiny with one lap to go, passing Kunc for the third spot and holding her off down the stretch at a blistering new school-record of 10:02.89 – annihilating her previous record of 10:13.42 from earlier in the season at the Drake Relays. This will be Austin's first-career trip to the national meet.
 
All-American Alethia Marrero will be making a return trip to Oregon after snaring the final qualifying spot in the women's 800. Marrero finished fourth in her heat with a season-best 2:04.52, which was just .68 seconds ahead of the next best time. Marrero was in a superb 800 field, which included seven 2:02 times and a new facility record via top qualifier Siofra Cleirigh Buttner of Villanova at 2:02.11.
 
This will not be Marrero's first time competing in the national championships, as she finished her sophomore season in 2015 as one of the top 800 runners in the nation. She finished fifth in a historically fast 800 final at 2:03.86 for First-Team All-American honors in a heat that included the fastest time by a freshman in NCAA history by champion Raevyn Rogers of Oregon. That same season, Marrero destroyed the indoor (2:04.73) and outdoor (2:02.67) MVC records in the 800.
 
Senior Marcus Neely and junior Daley Carter took care of business today, both advancing into tomorrow's quarterfinal in the 110-meter hurdles in the hopes of continuing Indiana State's Hurdle U tradition out in Oregon.
 
Neely earned an automatic qualifier spot, winning his heat with a wind-legal time of 13.66 –which ended up being the third-best time of the day. His time fell just short of his personal-best 13.62, set two weeks ago at the MVC Outdoor Championships for ISU's sixth-straight MVC title in the event. The only qualifiers to finish in front of Neely were Alabama's Reubin Walters (13.52) and Kentucky's Nick Anderson (13.50) – the latter of whom narrowly edged out former Sycamore All-American Adarius Washington for runner-up honors in the NCAA final last season.
 
Carter managed to finish fourth in a very competitive heat with a time of 13.90, earning him the 11th overall time of the day and a spot in the quarterfinals. The winner of Carter's heat was Youngstown State's Chad Zallow, who currently holds the top time in the NCAA at 13.37.
 
Both hurdlers will compete in the quarterfinals tomorrow (Sat., May 27) at 7:20 p.m.
 
Action resumes for the Sycamores on Day Three of the NCAA East Region Prelims at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday with Jaime Murtagh set to compete in the high jump. Aside from Murtagh and the Sycamore hurdlers, both Brooke Moore and David Timlin will be looking to punch their tickets to Eugene in the men's and women's 1500-meter races.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Track and Field team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.