Wednesday, May 22
Lexington, Ky.
Michigan State University
at
NCAA East First Round
17 Spartans Take on NCAA East First Round Regional, Beginning Wednesday
5/22/2024 1:08:00 AM | Track and Field
LEXINGTON, Ky. – 17 Spartans will compete in the NCAA Track and Field East First Round starting Wednesday, May 22 through Saturday, May 25 in hopes of qualifying out of the regional to earn entry to the NCAA Championships.
Five Spartan men kick off the week Wednesday, starting with the Pole Vault at 3 p.m. ET, while seven MSU women get underway on Thursday, with the additional men's finals on Friday and women's finals on Saturday. All of the action across the four days will be streamed live on ESPN+.
If the Spartans place within the top 12 in their event, they advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the famed Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from June 5-8, where they will meet the top 12 finishers from the West Regional, being held in Fayetteville, Ark..
18 Spartans earned entry by posting an East Region top-48 mark in their respective events during the outdoor season. Sophomore Riley Hough was scratched from the postseason opportunity due to injury. It is the most student-athletes to an NCAA preliminary since 25 Spartans were selected in 2019. Last year, 12 earned berths, in 2022, 17, and in 2021, 15, while the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to COVID.
The Spartans are no strangers to the Shively Track and Field Stadium on the hosting University of Kentucky's, having traveled to Lexington to compete there for the Jim Green Invite on April 19 and 20.
Highlighting the five Spartans competing on Wednesday is graduate student Heath Baldwin in the 110m Hurdles. The Kalamazoo, Mich. native holds four MSU school records and was .02 seconds off from a fifth in the 110m hurdles (13.77) while scoring points in all four events he competed in last time out at the Big Ten Championships.
Typically competing in the decathlon, Baldwin focuses on just one event at regionals and will forgo the NCAA Championships in preparation for the US Summer Olympic Trials just two weeks later. The 2023 MSU Athletics George Alderton Male Athlete of the Year and five-time All-American is currently the U.S. No. 1 and World No. 3 in the decathlon after an NCAA seventh best all-time score of 8470 at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 17-18) that met the Olympic standard.
Fellow graduate student CarLee Stimpfel is an NCAA preliminary in the second consecutive season at the DI level, just missing the cut at last year's regional with a 13th-place finish in the 10,000m. He is a multiple-time DII All-American that transferred from Saginaw Valley State as a junior.
Sophomore Adam Blue's pole vault personal best of 5.12m (16' 9.5") came at the Jim Green Invite in Lexington, Ky. and landed him a spot right back on the Shively Track and Field Stadium runways for regionals. He also cleared 5.01m at the Big Ten Championships to score points in sixth for MSU.
Junior Noah Sage finished on the podium in four of his first five competitions this season, including a second-place finish at the Len Paddock Invitational (April 27), with a 20.66 200m time that qualified him for regionals.
Competing at his second NCAA First Round in as many years at the collegiate level, sophomore Colby Morlock is seeded 26th at the East Regional behind a 18.53m shot put mark at the Raleigh Relays (March 28-30), that saw him PR and win the event at the highly-touted meet. Morlock also finished 26th at last year's NCAA East prelim in Jacksonville, Fla..
Tentative MSU Schedule
// Women //
Name Event Seed Mark Date - Time (ET)
Shae Harbaugh 800m 45 2:06.09 Thurs., 7:50 p.m.
Sat., 7:05 p.m.
Lauren Freeland 1500m 24 4:14.55 Thurs., 6:30 p.m. Sat., 5:15 p.m.
Katie Osika 5000m 9 15:39.01 Sat., 8:10 p.m.
Kaia Scheffler 100m Hurdles 40 13.41 Thurs., 6 p.m.
Sat., 6:35 p.m.
Sophia Mettes Pole Vault 8 4.27m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Natalie Blake Pole Vault 37 4.07m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Jessica Stieb Shot Put 28 16.00m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Opal Jackson Shot Put 42 15.52m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Discus 40 51.08m Sat. 1 p.m.
// Men //
Name Event Seed Mark Date - Time (ET)
Noah Sage 200m 42 20.66 Wed., 8:45 p.m.
Fri., 7:50 p.m.
CarLee Stimpfel 10,000m 45 28:56.92 Wed., 9:10 p.m.
Heath Baldwin 110m Hurdles 26 13.77 Wed., 6 p.m.
Fri., 6:15 p.m.
Andrew Nolan Steeplechase 20 8:45.33 Fri., 5:45 p.m.
Tyler Pritchett Steeplechase 38 8:52.76 Fri., 5:45 p.m.
Brady Schultz High Jump 36 2.11m Fri., 2 p.m.
Adam Blue Pole Vault 46 5.12m Wed., 3 p.m.
Colby Morlock Shot Put 26 18.53m Wed., 5:30 p.m.
Dalton DeBeau Discus 29 56.34m Fri., 1 p.m.
Five Spartan men kick off the week Wednesday, starting with the Pole Vault at 3 p.m. ET, while seven MSU women get underway on Thursday, with the additional men's finals on Friday and women's finals on Saturday. All of the action across the four days will be streamed live on ESPN+.
If the Spartans place within the top 12 in their event, they advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the famed Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from June 5-8, where they will meet the top 12 finishers from the West Regional, being held in Fayetteville, Ark..
18 Spartans earned entry by posting an East Region top-48 mark in their respective events during the outdoor season. Sophomore Riley Hough was scratched from the postseason opportunity due to injury. It is the most student-athletes to an NCAA preliminary since 25 Spartans were selected in 2019. Last year, 12 earned berths, in 2022, 17, and in 2021, 15, while the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to COVID.
The Spartans are no strangers to the Shively Track and Field Stadium on the hosting University of Kentucky's, having traveled to Lexington to compete there for the Jim Green Invite on April 19 and 20.
Highlighting the five Spartans competing on Wednesday is graduate student Heath Baldwin in the 110m Hurdles. The Kalamazoo, Mich. native holds four MSU school records and was .02 seconds off from a fifth in the 110m hurdles (13.77) while scoring points in all four events he competed in last time out at the Big Ten Championships.
Typically competing in the decathlon, Baldwin focuses on just one event at regionals and will forgo the NCAA Championships in preparation for the US Summer Olympic Trials just two weeks later. The 2023 MSU Athletics George Alderton Male Athlete of the Year and five-time All-American is currently the U.S. No. 1 and World No. 3 in the decathlon after an NCAA seventh best all-time score of 8470 at the Mt. SAC Relays (April 17-18) that met the Olympic standard.
Fellow graduate student CarLee Stimpfel is an NCAA preliminary in the second consecutive season at the DI level, just missing the cut at last year's regional with a 13th-place finish in the 10,000m. He is a multiple-time DII All-American that transferred from Saginaw Valley State as a junior.
Sophomore Adam Blue's pole vault personal best of 5.12m (16' 9.5") came at the Jim Green Invite in Lexington, Ky. and landed him a spot right back on the Shively Track and Field Stadium runways for regionals. He also cleared 5.01m at the Big Ten Championships to score points in sixth for MSU.
Junior Noah Sage finished on the podium in four of his first five competitions this season, including a second-place finish at the Len Paddock Invitational (April 27), with a 20.66 200m time that qualified him for regionals.
Competing at his second NCAA First Round in as many years at the collegiate level, sophomore Colby Morlock is seeded 26th at the East Regional behind a 18.53m shot put mark at the Raleigh Relays (March 28-30), that saw him PR and win the event at the highly-touted meet. Morlock also finished 26th at last year's NCAA East prelim in Jacksonville, Fla..
Tentative MSU Schedule
// Women //
Name Event Seed Mark Date - Time (ET)
Shae Harbaugh 800m 45 2:06.09 Thurs., 7:50 p.m.
Sat., 7:05 p.m.
Lauren Freeland 1500m 24 4:14.55 Thurs., 6:30 p.m. Sat., 5:15 p.m.
Katie Osika 5000m 9 15:39.01 Sat., 8:10 p.m.
Kaia Scheffler 100m Hurdles 40 13.41 Thurs., 6 p.m.
Sat., 6:35 p.m.
Sophia Mettes Pole Vault 8 4.27m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Natalie Blake Pole Vault 37 4.07m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Jessica Stieb Shot Put 28 16.00m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Opal Jackson Shot Put 42 15.52m Thurs., 6:30 p.m.
Discus 40 51.08m Sat. 1 p.m.
// Men //
Name Event Seed Mark Date - Time (ET)
Noah Sage 200m 42 20.66 Wed., 8:45 p.m.
Fri., 7:50 p.m.
CarLee Stimpfel 10,000m 45 28:56.92 Wed., 9:10 p.m.
Heath Baldwin 110m Hurdles 26 13.77 Wed., 6 p.m.
Fri., 6:15 p.m.
Andrew Nolan Steeplechase 20 8:45.33 Fri., 5:45 p.m.
Tyler Pritchett Steeplechase 38 8:52.76 Fri., 5:45 p.m.
Brady Schultz High Jump 36 2.11m Fri., 2 p.m.
Adam Blue Pole Vault 46 5.12m Wed., 3 p.m.
Colby Morlock Shot Put 26 18.53m Wed., 5:30 p.m.
Dalton DeBeau Discus 29 56.34m Fri., 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
Multi-Event
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints/Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldProcess Oriented | Spartans All-Access
Wednesday, April 02
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championship recap
Monday, May 13
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championships highlights
Saturday, May 11
Track & Field | Big Ten Outdoor Championships | Day 2
Saturday, May 11