NMSU Aggies head to College Station for NCAA Preliminaries

(Courtesy: NMSU Athletics)

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Three members of the NM State track and field team will head to College Station, Texas, for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary on Thursday and Saturday.

The top 48 individuals in their respective events qualified for the east and west preliminaries.

The top 12 finishers in each event will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 9-12.

All the action will be streamed live on SEC Network Plus or WatchESPN.com.

Terice Steen (400m hurdles), Yemisi Oroyinyin (shot put) and Dascha Robinson (triple jump) will represent the Aggies in College Station.

All three athletes took home their respective individual titles at the WAC Championships on May 13-15.

Head Coach Doug Reynolds has never had more than two athletes compete at the NCAA Preliminaries and has never had an athlete qualify for the NCAA Championships. 

Steen, a freshman from Hanover, Jamaica, will make her first trip the NCAA Preliminaries in her first outdoor season.

Steen is one of 13 freshmen to qualify in the field of 48 for the 400m hurdles.

Steen's school record time of 59.49 was set at the Masked Rider Open on Apr. 10.

Steen earned an individual title in the event at the WAC Championships with a time of 1:00.57.

Oroyinyin is coming off her best performance of her career in the shot put as she set a personal best with a mark of 15.82m, which was also a school record. In six meets this season, the senior from Las Cruces, N.M., captured the shot put title in three meets and finished runner-up in an additional two meets.

Oroyinyin is also making her first appearance at the NCAA Preliminaries. 

Robinson will enter the triple jump with the 10th-best mark of the field with a mark of 13.32m which she set at the Desert Heat Classic on May 1.

Her mark broke the school record. Robinson dominated the field at the WAC Championships on her way to an individual title where she won the event by nearly a full meter. 

Oroyinyin and Steen will each compete on Thursday while Robinson will not compete until Saturday.

Oroyinyin will compete in the shot put at 5 p.m. with Steen following her in the 400m hurdles at 7:20 p.m. If Steen were to qualify for the finals, she will compete at 6:55 p.m. on Saturday.

Robinson will compete in the triple jump at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday.