CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard track & field heads to Lexington, Kentucky this week for the 2024 NCAA East Region First Round. From Wednesday, May 22 to Saturday, May 25, Crimson student-athletes look to punch their tickets to the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, as the top 12 finishers from each event and the top 12 relay teams from the East Region will head to Eugene, Oregon in June. Harvard fans can stream all four days of competition on ESPN+.

WHAT TO KNOW:

• Over the course of the 2024 outdoor campaign, 31 Crimson qualified for the NCAA East Region First Round, including the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams.
• In order to a secure a spot in the First Round, student-athletes had to earn a spot in the top 48 of the performance list for their respective events. Relay teams needed a top-24 time to qualify for the First Round.
• Two defending NCAA track & field national champions highlight the Crimson’s participants in Lexington this week.
• The reigning NCAA Women’s 1,500m National Champion, senior Maia Ramsden will run the women’s 1,500m and 5,000m races this week. Ramsden holds the top 1,500m time in the East Region and nation this season, posting a 4:07.30 at the Wake Forest Invitational in March. In the 5,000m, Ramsden’s time of 15:44.36 is 34^th in the nation and 17^th in the East Region.
• A national champion in the men’s weight and hammer throws, junior Kenneth Ikeji enters the NCAA East Region First Round with the top throw in the region, as his toss of 74.47m (244’4″) is also sixth in the nation this season.
• Junior Graham Blanks, the defending NCAA Men’s Cross Country National Champion, will run the men’s 5,000m in Lexington this week. A native of Athens, Georgia, Blanks finished second in the men’s 5,000m at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
• A pair of Crimson sit in the top-15 of the national women’s 800m performance list heading into the East Region First Round. After running a 2:00.92 at the Pepsi Florida Relays, junior Victoria Bossong is seventh in the event. A qualifier for the women’s 800m at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, first-year Sophia Gorriaran is 15^th with a time of 2:01.60.

UP NEXT:

Crimson that finish in the top-12 at the East Region First Round will head to Eugene, Oregon from Wednesday, June 5 to Saturday, June 8 for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

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