LEXINGTON, Ky. – Marcus Neely and David Timlin are Oregon-bound after both earned automatic qualifier spots to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on the final day of the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries on Saturday.
 
It wasn't an easy go of it on Day Three, though, with intense humidity and several weather delays making things more difficult on the final day of competition.
 
"(The student-athletes) did a good job of managing their emotions on a day like this," said head coach Angela Martin. "It's incredibly hard, and they've learned to be balanced. We've gone out with great weather and very poor weather all year, and I think that's helped them prepare."
 
All-American senior David Timlin punched his third-straight ticket to the national meet after an exciting finish in the 1500 that resulted in a second-place automatic qualifier finish in his heat at 3:46.84. Timlin found himself in last with 400-meters to go in the race, and that's when he turned the jets on, managing to catch the pack with a 53.6 final 400 split and give Big 10 champion Justine Kiprotich of Michigan State a run for his money, finishing just .33 seconds behind him (first through fourth were separated by just .44).
 
"Timlin, in his typical fashion, wowed everybody with his amazing kick, and those guys are tough to kick on because everybody in that race is fast," Martin said.
 
Timlin's previous two trips to Oregon have earned him Second-Team All-American honors in the 1500, where he finished 14th both times – breaking his own school record last season at 3:41.35.
 
Fellow senior Marcus Neely kept the Hurdle U tradition alive, taking care of business with a smooth automatic qualifier finish in Heat One of the men's 110-meter hurdles quarterfinals. Neely finished second in his heat at 13.69, finishing sixth overall once all three heats were completed. The only hurdler to finish in front of Neely in his heat was Chad Zallow of Youngstown State, who currently sits at number one in the country.
 
Daley Carter, meanwhile, fell just short of the mark to qualify for nationals, finishing sixth in his heat and 16th overall at 13.97 – with the final time qualifier to Eugene coming in at 13.85. Today wraps up an impressive season for Carter, who earned All-MVC honors both indoors and outdoors in the men's 60 and 110-meter hurdles – which included a 13.78 outing at the outdoor championships two weeks ago that ranks sixth all-time. Carter has used up his indoor eligibility, but he will return to Indiana State for the 2018 outdoor season for his senior year.
 
This will be Neely's first trip to Oregon for the championships after a stellar season where he won both the indoor and outdoor MVC hurdles titles, the latter of which came at a PR 13.62. Neely now joins the ranks of Sycamore legends like NCAA Champions Chris Lancaster and Aubrey Herring, and All-Americans Greggmar Swift and Adarius Washington to run in the national meet.
 
"We kind of joked about passing the torch, and he said that it must be set in stone that your senior year you get to go to Oregon, and your junior year you have to wait until the torch gets passed," Martin said. "Hopefully next year Daley gets to carry that torch."
 
In a speedy 1500 race, Brooke Moore did not back down and ran an incredible school-record 4:18.64, overtaking her previous record of 4:20.02. She was able to finish eighth in a heat that featured a blistering top time of 4:11.15 by Helen Schlachtenhaufen of Dartmouth, who took the top-time of the day, but fell short of either an automatic bid or time qualifier slot to the national meet to conclude her amazing sophomore season.
 
Moore lit the track on fire in 2017, shattering the outdoor record in the 1500 not once, but twice, in addition to taking down the indoor mile (4:43.04) and 3K (9:35.60) records. She ended the year with three All-MVC honors and her first career MVC title coming in the 1500 outdoors, following a stellar All-MVC campaign in the cross country season where she finished third overall – the highest finish by a Sycamore female since 2010.
 
The lone Sycamore in the field, Jaime Murtagh, gave his best effort in the high jump before falling short, clearing a height of 2.00m (6-06.75). That will end a strong junior season for Murtagh, in which he earned All-MVC honors with a runner-up finish in the high jump outdoors. This season also saw him set his personal-best mark of 2.12 (6-11.50) at the Tiger Track Classic in April, a mark he also hit when he won the Irish national championships last summer.
 
Indiana State now looks forward to sending four Sycamores out to Eugene for the NCAA Outdoor Championships from June 7-10. Joining Neely and Timlin are Taylor Austin and Alethia Marrero, who both punched their tickets Friday evening. Austin earned an automatic qualifier spot to the championships by earning a third-place finish in the steeplechase at a school-record time of 10:02.89, while Marrero punched her ticket to Oregon by taking the last qualifying spot in the 800 at 2:04.52.
 
This is the first trip to Oregon for Austin, while Marrero is looking to build off her magical 2015 season in which she annihilated the MVC record at the East Prelim to qualify and ended up finishing fifth for First-Team All-American honors in a historically fast final.
 
"I think what's great is that this group is fairly close, so I think (Marrero and Timlin) being veterans and knowing how things operate in Oregon can help lead the way for Marcus and Taylor," Martin said. "The experience of going out here is huge. This is one of the best places to run in the United States and they get the opportunity to represent Indiana State there and experience all the history of Hayward Field. It'll be good for them."
 
In total, Indiana State punched four tickets of the nine preliminary round qualifiers to compete in Kentucky – several of which also came very close to also making a trip out to TrackTownUSA.
 
"I think we brought a good group here," Martin said. "These were nine great men and women who had great chances to qualify for the finals, and they all showed up well. Most of them ran season-bests or personal-bests if they didn't make it, and the four that made it ran incredible races. I'm extremely proud of all of them, this was a great group and they competed hard."
 
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.