Mapps, McGruder, Charles, Men's 4x100 Make Regionals

NCAA West Regional Schedule
NCAA West Regional Qualifying Lists
 
LITTLE ROCK – The Trojan track and field team had plenty to celebrate on Thursday afternoon as three individual athletes and the men's 4x100 relay team all qualified for the NCAA West Regional.
 
The Trojans' three individual athletes – Michael McGruder, Dez Mapps and Anika Charles – will be representing Little Rock in five different events. McGruder and Mapps will each race in the 100 and 200 and the NCAA West Regional while Charles will race in the 400. The 4x100 relay team – which this year has used McGruder, Mapps, Travion Clark and Kendrick Dunn or Ch'kilas Calhoun – will also be racing in the regional.
 
Little Rock's six event entries is the most in school history at an NCAA regional. This marks the first time in program history that a relay team has made a regional as well. Before Thursday, the Trojan record for most regional event entries was five (2009).
 
To qualify for the NCAA Region, the Trojans had to be among the top 48 declared athletes in the west region in each event. The relay team had to be in the top 24 of all squads in the west.
 
McGruder and Mapps will be appearing in the NCAA West Regional for the first time. McGruder ranked eighth in the west in the 100 with his race of 10.17 seconds at the Little Rock Open in early April. He was 35th in the west in the 200 with his time of 20.90 seconds at the Rhodes Invitational.
 
Mapps, meanwhile, was 27th in the region in the 100 with a time of 10.29 seconds at the Sun Belt Championship. In the 200, Mapps ran a 20.79 also at the Sun Belt Championship to rank him 27th in the region as well.
 
Charles will be making her second consecutive appearance at the NCAA West Regional. She earned her spot with a 53.51-second 400 at the Sun Belt Championship last weekend, and she ranks 26th in the region.

The 4x100 relay team also had its best race of the season at the Sun Belt Championship last weekend. The quartet broke the school record with a time of 40.07 seconds, putting them 17th in the west region.
 
The 2017 NCAA West Regional will be held at the University of Texas on May 25-27. The 100 and 400 first round will be held on May 25, and the quarterfinals to qualify for the NCAA Championship will be on May 26. The 200 first round will be on May 26 with the quarterfinals on May 27. Finally, the 4x100 quarterfinal will be held on May 27.
 
To reach the NCAA Championship, the Trojans must finish in the top 12 at the West Regional in each event. The last Trojan to reach the NCAA Championship was Chris Johnson in the 100-meter dash in 2005.