Five Set to Represent Little Rock at NCAA Regional

Live Video | Live Results | Heat Sheets

LITTLE ROCK – The Trojans are sending their largest-ever contingent to the NCAA West Regional beginning on Thursday as five individuals will be competing across five different event entries with spots at the NCAA Outdoor Championship on the line.
 
Action at the NCAA West Regional – held at the University of Texas – runs from Thursday to Saturday with the best track and field athletes west of the Mississippi River in attendance.
 
Live results and free live video will be available throughout the weekend.
 
Michael McGruder, Dez Mapps, Anika Charles and the men's 4x100 relay team of McGruder, Mapps, Kendrick Dunn and Travion Clark can count themselves among the best in the west as they all contributed to Little Rock program history throughout the season and put themselves among the national leaderboards in their events.
 
McGruder and Mapps will each be racing in the 100 and 200 at the NCAA West Regional. This year, McGruder's best time of 10.17 seconds put him eighth in the west region and second all-time in Little Rock history. In the 200, his best of 20.61 seconds is the Little Rock school record and 35th in the west this year.
 
Mapps ran his best races of the season at the Sun Belt Championship two weekends ago, taking third in the 100 and 200 with times of 10.29 seconds and 20.72 seconds, respectively. Mapps is 27th in the west in both events, and those times put him third in Trojan history in both events 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. That 53.51 is the second-best time in Trojan history, and Charles also holds the school record in the 100 and 200 outdoors.

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.
 
Mapps and McGruder will be the first Trojans to take the track, racing in the 100-meter dash first round on Thursday at 6:55 p.m. Mapps will be in Heat 3 while McGruder will be in Heat 6.
 
Following their run in the 100, Charles will take on the 400-meter dash at 7:20 p.m. Charles will race in the third heat.
 
For both first-round races on Saturday, the Trojans will advance to the national quarterfinals on Friday if they finish in the top three of their heats or if they are among the next six fastest times in all heats (24 total runners).
 
On Friday, Mapps and McGruder could be taking on the 100 meter quarterfinals at 6:15 p.m. Charles would race in the 400-meter quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. If they finish in the top three of those heats or among the next three fastest times (12 total runners), they will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championship in Oregon later in June.
 
Also on Friday, Mapps and McGruder will take on the 200-meter dash at 7:55 p.m. Mapps will be in Heat 2 while McGruder will be in Heat 4. A top-three finish in their heats or a placement among the next six fastest times will advance them to Saturday's national quarterfinal. In Saturday's race, if they place in the top three in their heat or among the next three fastest times across all heats, they would advance to the national championship meet in Oregon.
 
Finally, the 4x100 relay team will open the action on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. Racing in the second heat, Little Rock will need to place in the top three in their heat or among the next three best times (12 total teams) to earn a spot at the national championship meet.
 
The NCAA Championship will be held at the University of Oregon on June 7-10.