HOW WE GOT HERE
 
Aerin Thompson, Juliane Frueh, and the 4x400 meter relay team of Thompson, Kamaria Carr, Jasmine Haywood, and Isabel Jakobsen will each compete in the Championships this weekend.
 
Thompson will take part in the 200 meters, 400 meters, heptathlon, and 4x400 meter relay as she looks to add on to her already stellar track and field year.
 
Thompson ended the year with the 18^th fastest 200 meter time, and then tacked on the fifth fastest mark in the 400 meters in all of Division II to book her spot in both events.
 
Frueh will face her competition in the high jump to cap off her great freshman season. She set her season best mark of 1.75 meters at the LSC Outdoor Championships, the seventh highest in all of Division II.
 
The Patriots 4x400 relay team ran the ninth fastest time in Division II this season at 3:40.25 at the Bobcat Invitational to earn their qualification into the event.
 
This also marks the first time in the Division II era of the program that the Patriots qualified into a running event in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, with each of the previous four instances being field events.
 
THE NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
 
377 athletes per gender will compete at the national championships beginning on Thursday, May 23 and running until Saturday, May 25. Emporia State will play host to the championships at their home track, Francis G. Welch Stadium.
 
Emporia State has hosted the Division II Outdoor Championships three times prior, in the 1995, 1999, and 2006 seasons.
 
This is the third consecutive season that the Patriots have qualified at least one athlete into the outdoor championships, with big success coming from those athletes. In both of those seasons Abeni Kratzmeyer has been named a USTFCCCA First Team All-American in the pole vault, and in the 2023 year Brooklyn House added in a USTFCCCA Second Team All-American nod in the discus.
 
Patriots action will begin at approximately 5:55 p.m. on Thursday, as Aerin Thompson begins her meet in the 400 meter preliminary rounds. On Friday, Thompson continues in the 200 meters at approximately 5:45 p.m., also in the preliminary rounds. The Patriots 4x400 meter relay team will hit the track at 8:10 p.m. for their preliminary round.
 
The championships will conclude on Saturday, beginning with the women's high jump at 1:45, where Frueh will compete. Following her efforts will be the finals of the 400 meters at 3:15 p.m., the finals of the 200 meters at 4:50 p.m., and lastly the 4x400 meter relay at 6 p.m.