JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Led by relay All-Americans Micah Larkins and Tre'Darius Carr, the Northwestern State Demons track and field team has eight qualifiers competing at the NCAA East Preliminary Round Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
 
The first two rounds of the national championship competition for East region qualifiers are being contested at Hodges Stadium on the campus of North Florida.
 
Each individual event involves the top 48 performers (top 24 relay teams) in a region that includes all Division I conferences east of the Mississippi River, and in states adjacent to the river. The top 12 finishers advancing through the opening round and quarterfinals at the East Preliminary Round will move on to national semifinals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas June 5-8.
 
Jacksonville has been the site of the East competition nearly every year this decade.
 
"It's a great venue and the track usually produces pretty fast times," said NSU head coach Mike Heimerman. "The track is a great surface and it's a wonderful campus to be on. It's going to be very hot, but I think we're ready for that." 
 
Like Jasmyn Steels on the women's side, NSU could have raised its number on the men's also but didn't declare a few qualifiers in secondary events such as Larkins, who ranked in the top 48 in the 200 but wanted to focus on the 4x100 meter relay and the 100 meter dash, his specialty events.
 
Larkins, a senior, and Carr, a sophomore, were part of the Demons' 4x100 squad that finished seventh nationally last June to claim first-team All-America honors. At this stage, Heimerman is just hoping to get as many national meet qualifiers as possible out of this week's action, and isn't drawing comparisons to 2018.
 
"Last year was one of the greatest in NSU track and field history and it can be tough to live up to that, but I think we've done a great job," he said. "Hopefully it only gets better from here."
 
A live video stream is available here.
Live results are available here.
 
Action for the Demons begins at 2:30 p.m. (CST) with JaCorious Jeter and Markeit Steverson Jr. in the first round of the long jump. Jeter, a senior, enters the competition ranked 18^th (25-4 ½) in the East while Steverson, a sophomore, comes in at 36^th (24-9). The duo most recently combined to take gold and silver at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships on May 3 with Jeter taking home his first-ever conference crown.
 
Field event competitions will have all 48 entries taking three attempts with the top 24 qualifiers getting three more in the national quarterfinals on the same day, to identify the 12 advancing to Austin.
 
Racing events also use the opening round to trim the field of 48 to 24 for the East finals/national quarterfinals, which are contested on the day following the opening round in Jacksonville.
 
Six-time Southland champion sprinter Larkins will compete Thursday for the first time since injuring his hamstring May 5 at the end of his leg of the 4x100 relay final at the Southland meet. He then was unable to appear in the 100 and 200 dash finals that day due to the ailment, but says he'll be ready to go Thursday.
 
In the 100, the Haughton product holds the 11^th-best 100 time in the East (10.10). Larkins will appear in the 100 opening round Thursday at 5:55 p.m., hoping to advance to the final on Friday at 5:15. He will run Saturday at 5:15 in the 4x100 relay quarterfinal.
 
Joining Larkins in the relay are Carr, Javin Arrington and Eddie Clarke. The quartet ran a season-best 39.51 at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational on April 12 and enters the competition on the bubble, ranked 12^th in the East.
 
"Losing Kie'Ave (Harry) on the relay team (injury) hit us big. Luckily for him, he got a redshirt year and he'll be fine," said Larkins. "We brought in Eddie and subbed in Javin and I think it's looking pretty good for us."
 
Carr, a sophomore from Jackson, also qualified for the 100 (45^th, 10.38) and the 200 (46^th, 20.99).
 
Senior Tremayne Flagler will represent the Demons in the 110 hurdles, ranked 19^th (13.87) in the East after winning his first conference championship, running the second-best time in NSU history in the preliminary round. The Atlanta, Georgia, native's mark was only 0.01 off the school record set by Joe Rhyans in 1993. The 110 hurdles first round is set for Friday at 4 p.m. with the quarterfinals Saturday at 6:20. Flagler will also serve as an alternate on the 4x100 relay team.
 
"I feel like I can drop a good time," said Flagler. "I feel like I'm starting to peak at the right time, and I think I can do something serious out there. The school record is somewhat on my mind but I'm more focused on trying to get a spot at nationals more than anything."
 
Quindarrius Thompson is scheduled to compete in the triple jump at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. The junior earned his qualifying status (46^th, 49-11 ¾) in his last outing, claiming silver at the Southland Championships on May 4.
 
With 19 East Preliminary qualifying marks combined by Northwestern's men and women, NSU trails only LSU's 49 in Louisiana. Third is UL-Lafayette with eight.
 
The 19 qualifiers ties for first in the Southland Conference with Stephen F. Austin. Third is Sam Houston State with 18. The Texas-based schools compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Sacramento, California.
 
The Demons have the second-most male qualifiers in the state behind LSU's 25, slightly ahead of third-ranked UL-Lafayette (6).
 
 
Full List of Male Entries: