JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Freshman javelin standout Ashley Aldredge starts action Thursday for Northwestern State's 13 qualifiers in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships East Prelims, with sophomore 400 meter hurdler Consuela Lindsay also competing on the meet's opening day.

The top 12 finishers from a field of 48 in each event during the three-day regional qualifier will advance to the national semifinals in Des Moines, Iowa, in two weeks. The opening round of three throws and the regional final round providing three more attempts will be contested Thursday afternoon in the javelin involving Aldredge, ranked fourth regionally and 14^th nationally with her 166-0 best. Lindsay, whose school-record 58.64 time ranks 16^th in the field of 48, will try to be among 27 runners to advance to a Friday night quarterfinal round that will narrow the field down to 12 national semifinalists.

Friday night, Demons sprinter Kendal Taylor runs in the 200 meter dash opening round, trying to advance to Saturday's regional final. Saturday, the NSU 4x100 meter relay foursome of Trey Hatton, Karllis Perry, Taylor and Keenan Jackson tries to advance to Des Moines.

Lindsay will also run Saturday as the anchor of the Lady Demons' 4x400 relay with Quiana Griffin, Constance Seibles and Lawana Perkins. Four other NSU sprinters are alternates split among the two relay teams, in case there's an injury or illness.

Aldredge will throw Thursday at 4:30 EST for the first time since winning the Southland Conference championship two weeks ago despite a painful arm injury. Lady Demon coach Mike Heimerman said nerve irritation seems to be the problem, not anything structural.

“She feels good. She's ready mentally. She went through this at the conference meet, and we'll enter the competition taped up. Once we got her taped at the conference meet, she was able to be good enough to win,” he said. “I think she'll probably need to throw it 156-0 to advance to nationals, and if she gets it over 160, I just think that will clinch it. This isn't about winning, it's about advancing.”

Aldredge will throw in the third flight of 16 competitors, along with second-seeded Ana Ruzevic of Tulane and 11^th-seeded Annie Simoneaux of LSU.

Lindsay drew a good lane assignment and good competition in her heat Thursday at 5.

“We drew bad lanes at the conference meet and it balanced out here at regionals,” said Heimerman. “She's in lane 5, right next to one of the fastest qualifiers, Cassandra Tate from LSU in lane 6, and the top-seeded runner from Tennessee (Ellen Wortham) is outside in lane 9, so Consuela will want to run them down and she should run her best race.”