Track and Field Qualifies Four for NCAA East Preliminary Meet

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell track and field will send four athletes to the NCAA East Preliminary Meet to be held May 28-30 in Jacksonville, Florida. Junior Sophia Nnadi will represent the Bison women, while seniors Christian Lupica, Laddie Trees and Andrew-Garcia Garrison all qualified for the men's team.

The top 12 competitors from each event will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held in Eugene, Oregon on June 10-13.

Sophia Nnadi – Shot Put
First Round (Thursday, 3:30 p.m.)
Nnadi enters with the 38^th best throw in the shot put, which came at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships. She won the conference title with a meet and school record toss of 49-10 ½ and was named the Field Athlete of the Meet while leading the Bison to the team title. The junior showed consistent improvement during the outdoor campaign. She opened the season with a throw of 44-0 ¾ to win the Monmouth Season Opener, finished second behind teammate Abigail Brundage at the Bucknell Team Challenge, and went on to set a then personal record with a heave of 46-0 ¾ at the Penn Relays.

Christian Lupica – 110-meter hurdles
First Round (Friday, 5:30 p.m.) – Quarterfinal (7:20 p.m., Saturday)
Lupica makes his third straight appearance at the NCAA East Preliminary Meet. He finished 14^th in the 110-meter hurdles with a school-record time of 13.80 last season, missing out on qualifying for the NCAA Championships by one one-thousandth of a second. The senior's best time this season was 13.81 which came during a championship winning race at the Patriot League Outdoor Championships, and ranks 19^th among those entered this weekend. Lupica is coming off a runner-up finish at the IC4A Championships for the second consecutive season. He has wins in the 110-meter hurdles at the Bucknell Team Challenge, the Bison Outdoor Classic, and in a 52-runner field at the Colonial Relays. His title at the Team Challenge came with a Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium record time of 13.87.

Laddie Trees – Javelin
First Round (Friday, noon)
Trees will compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Meet for the second straight season after taking 17^th in the javelin last year. His top throw of 233-0, which came during a runner-up showing at the Colonial Relays, is the ninth best among those entered this weekend and ranks second on Bucknell's all-time list. In his most recent competition, the senior earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors at the championship meet. He notched two wins in the javelin the season, taking the title at the Monmouth Season Opener and at the Bucknell Team Challenge with a throw of 224-8. He added a runner-up finish at the Bison Outdoor Classic, finishing behind a thrower from Penn State.

Andrew Garcia-Garrison – 1,500-meter run
First Round (Thursday, 6 p.m.) – Quarterfinals (Saturday, 6:45 p.m.)
Garcia-Garrison looks to continue an outstanding season when he makes his first appearance at the NCAA East Preliminary Meet. The senior set school records in both the indoor and outdoor mile this season. His qualifying time for the 1,500-meter run actually came in his record-setting mile run at the Penn Relays, where he took sixth in a loaded field. His time of 3:44.74 ranks 33^rd among those entered this weekend. Garcia-Garrison wrapped up the indoor season by winning four events and being named the Track Athlete of the Meet at the Patriot League Championships. He then went on to add yet another conference title while anchoring the 4x800 relay at the outdoor championships. He also competed in the 1,500-meter run, but finished well off his personal-best time. He took the IC4A Championships off and will enter the meet with some much-needed rest after competing in multiple middle-distance events throughout the track and field season, as well as the cross country season prior to that. He was a four-time Patriot League Athlete of the Week during the indoor and outdoor seasons this year.