TAMPA, FL – Eight members of the Monmouth outdoor track and field team will compete in the East Preliminary of the 2019 NCAA Division 1 Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Hawks will travel to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville next week, where the event will take place from Thursday to Saturday. 
 
In each event, the top 48 athletes from both the East and West region qualified for the NCAA Championships. The East region features over 200 Division 1 school from all over the East Coast. The top 12 athletes in each event from the East and West meets will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals, held June 6-8 at the University of Texas.  
 
Three female and five male athletes will represent the Blue and White, including captain and graduate student Allie Wilson in the 800 meters, senior Brianna Stratz in the 800 meters and sophomore Danielle Steff in the javelin for the women. Monmouth's men will be represented by senior captain Corey Murphy in the shot put, seniors Mark Orlando and Pete Flacco in the javelin, junior Khalid Slocum in the long and sophomore Montel Johnson in the hammer throw.
 
"We are very proud to have this strong group representing us in the 1^st Round of the NCAA Championships," said head coach Joe Compagni. "In each of their events, they have earned the right to line up with many of the best athletes from the strongest programs in the country." 
 
Senior Allie Wilson qualified for the 800-meter run for the second straight year with her school record time of 2:03.81 at the Sam Howell Invitational earlier this season. Wilson has had a tremendous year, finishing 4^th at the NCAA Indoor Championships to earn First Team All-America honors. At the MAAC Championships at Monmouth, she was named the most Valuable Track Athlete for the second straight year after winning the 1500 and 800 and running on the winning 4x800 relay. Wilson also has the 4^th fastest time in the East in the 1500 at 4:15.16, but opted to focus on the 800 at NCAAs. 
 
Senior Brianna Stratz will be making her first NCAA appearance in the 800 by qualifying 20^th with a time of 2:05.97 at the MAAC Championships. The Hawks went 1-2-3-4 in the event to help seal the team title. This will be the first time Monmouth will have two track athletes in an event. Stratz led off and Wilson anchored the 4x800 relay team that finished 3^rd in the Championship of America at The Penn Relays this year. Stratz earned two ECAC Championship titles, 7 All-East honors and 9 conference championships in her Monmouth career, and also competed along with Wilson this year in the 1000 at the U.S. Indoor Championships.
 
Sophomore Danielle Steff qualified 17^th in the women's javelin throw with her best of 49.72 meters (163'1") at the Coach Pollard Invitational in April. Steff was the MAAC Champion and earned All-East honors again this year, earning a third place finish for the second year in a row at the ECAC Championships. Steff now owns three of the top five throws in school history, along with fellow NCAA qualifiers Kelsey Reese and Faith Blamon. Last year, Steff established a new Monmouth freshman record, earned Junior All-America honors and finished 21^st at the NCAA Preliminary Round. Her finish was the highest in school history for a freshman on the women's team.
 
Redshirt Senior Corey Murphy will make his third appearance outdoors and fourth overall at the NCAA Championships. During the indoor season, Murphy hit a best of 19.66 meters (64'6"), one centimeter behind 3-time All-American and Monmouth Hall of Famer Jon Kalnas. Murphy finished 12^th at the NCAA Indoor Championships to earn Second Team All-America honors. He and Wilson earned the 22^nd and 23^rd All-America honor in school history during the indoor season. This spring, Murphy was once again named the MAAC Most Valuable Field Event Athlete as he won the shot put and discus to help the team win their 11^th straight outdoor conference championship. Murphy qualified for NCAAs in both events, but elected to focus on the shot put where he is ranked 9^th in the East this spring.
 
Junior Khalid Slocum will make his first appearance at the NCAA Championships after a breakout year. Slocum went 7.91 meters (25'11.5") in the long jump to finish as the top collegian at the Virginia Challenge. He is ranked 7^th in the East in the event. Slocum was also the Hawks' top performer in the 100 (10.63) and 200 (21.28) this year. Indoors, he earned All-East honors in the long jump, 60 and 200, becoming the top scorer in school history at an IC4A Championships with 23 points. Slocum was also the anchor leg of the 4x100 relay team that won the IC4A Championships with a new school record of 40.30, a time that very narrowly missed advancing the quartet to the NCAA Preliminary Round.
 
Junior Mark Orlando (ranked 29^th) and senior Pete Flacco (ranked 41^st) will represent Monmouth in the javelin. Orlando threw 65.80m (215'10") to win the MAAC Championships, then earned All-East honors with a 6^th place finish at the IC4A Championships. Flacco hit a best of 63.93m (209'9") to finish 3^rd at MAACs, an event where Monmouth had four of the top six finishers. Flacco also earned his 2^nd straight All-East honor by finishing 5^th at IC4As, helping the Monmouth men to a 2^nd place overall team finish.
 
Sophomore hammer thrower Montel Johnson will make his first appearance at NCAAs. Johnson added nearly 30 feet to his personal best in the event from freshman to sophomore year, throwing 58.02 meters (190'4") earlier this spring. Johnson finished 3^rd at MAACS and 11^th at IC4As. He will follow in the footsteps of Tim Wilson, who made his third appearance in the NCAA hammer throw last year. 
 
The Hawks, who earned their 6^th straight MAAC title for the men and women two weeks ago and finished 2^nd of 60+ teams at the IC4A Championships last week, will have the most athletes qualified among all conference schools.
 
Including this year's group, Monmouth has sent 49 athletes to the First Round of the NCAA Championships over the last six years. Monmouth track & field athletes have earned at least one All-America honors from the finals of the NCAA Championships in either indoor or outdoor track & field or both, eight years in a row (2011-2019).
 
The Hawks had several other high-level competitors (seniors Darius Howe in the triple jump; Allison Taub in the shot and discus; and Kyle Mueller in the 10K; the men's 4x100 relay and others) narrowly miss earning NCAA bids this spring.
 
Action in Florida begins on Thursday May 23 at noon, and continue through Saturday evening.
Results for the meet can be found at https://dt8v5llb2dwhs.cloudfront.net/East/index.htm
 
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