Kent State University
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Four Golden Flashes Set for Action at NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
6/4/2019 3:11:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Four members of the Kent State track and field program will seek a strong finish to the season this week at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas. For the first time since 2004, the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium will serve as the host venue for the championships, which begins on June 5 and concludes June 8.
Redshirt junior TJ Lawson is the veteran of the group and will compete in the men's decathlon for the third year in a row. Lawson placed ninth in his NCAA Championships debut back in 2017. Senior Samory Fraga returns to the national stage in the long jump after coming within inches of qualifying a year ago. Fraga placed 23rd in 2017. Junior Christian Champen will compete in the men's pole vault, while freshman Gabby Bailey is set to throw shot put. Bailey is the Golden Flashes' first true freshman to compete at the NCAA Championships since Dior Delophont and Danniel Thomas-Dodd in 2013.
PREVIEWING THE FLASHES
All four Golden Flashes are scheduled to compete on the opening two days of competition.
Lawson will be in action on both Wednesday and Thursday and enters as the No. 5 seed in the men's decathlon. The USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year posted the second-highest score in Mid-American Conference history with 7,876 points at the Tennessee Relays in April and then captured his third consecutive MAC decathlon title.
Champen will make his NCAA Championships debut on Wednesday, as the men's pole vault is currently slated for 5:30 p.m. ET. He is seeded 24th with an outdoor personal-best height of 17'-3" at the Jesse Owens Classic.
Fraga is scheduled for action in the men's long jump at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday. He enters the competition seeded 17th with a season-best jump of 25'-4.5" at the Tennessee Relays.
Bailey rounds out the competitors for the Flashes on Thursday night and will compete in the women's shot put at 10:10 p.m. Bailey is the No. 16 seed and her personal-best mark of 55'-6.5" ranks second in the Kent State outdoor record book.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
The meet will be broadcast in its entirety by the ESPN family of networks and the ESPN app. For detailed broadcast information, visit NCAA.com. Additionally, live results will be available online throughout the meet.
NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE
Wednesday
Decathlon (TJ Lawson)
1:00 pm ET - 100m
1:40 pm ET - Long Jump
2:55 pm ET - Shot Put
4:10 pm ET - High Jump
7:56 pm ET - 400m
Field Events
5:30 pm ET - M Pole Vault – Christian Champen
7:00 pm ET - M Long Jump – Samory Fraga
Thursday
Decathlon (TJ Lawson)
2:00 pm ET - 110m Hurdles
2:50 pm ET - Discus Throw
4:00 pm ET - Pole Vault
6:30 pm ET - Javelin Throw
10:26 pm ET - 1500m
Field Events
10:10 pm ET - W Shot Put – Gabby Bailey
Players Mentioned
