The William & Mary men's track & field team is ready to begin national competition this week, with the NCAA Eastern Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla.  The meet, which runs Thursday-Saturday, May 23-25, is being hosted by the University of North Florida, and can be followed via live results on NCAA.com.  Fans can also tune into FloTrack.org to watch live with a FloPro subscription.

The Tribe is sending six men, representing nine entries across six different events.  In the field events, sophomore KJ Cook (Buena Vista, Va.) is entered in the hammer throw on Thursday, the discus on Friday, and the shot put on Saturday, while grad student Preston Richardson (Franktown, Va.) will also compete in both the discus and the shot put.  Freshman Troy Yearwood (Chesapeake, Va.) makes it three for W&M in the discus, and sophomore Michael Fairbanks (Fairfax Station, Va.) will make his first NCAA appearance in the pole vault on Thursday.  On the track, senior Ryan McGorty (Fairfax, Va.) is making his third consecutive appearance in the 1,500m run, with the first round on Thursday and quarterfinals awaiting on Saturday.  Sophomore Miles Owens (Yorktown, Va.) rounds out the qualifiers, competing in the 800m first round on Thursday and the quarterfinals on Friday.

The top-12 competitors after either one (in the field events) or two rounds (in the 800m and 1,500m) will advance to the NCAA Finals site in Austin, Texas, with competition on June 5 and June 7.

Thursday, May 23
12:00 PM - Hammer Throw Semifinals - KJ Cook
NCAA Finals Predicted - 67.42m (221-2); School Record - 67.36m (221-0)
- Cook won the CAA title in the hammer throw three weeks ago, setting a lifetime-best at 60.70m (199-2).  That was one of five lifetime-bests he's thrown this season in eight competitions, after coming into the year with a best of 54.03m (177-3).  Cook was also seventh in the IC4A Championships two weeks ago, and won the college division hammer at the Penn Relays.

4:30 PM - Pole Vault Semifinals - Michael Fairbanks
NCAA Finals Predicted - 5.31m (17-5); School Record - 5.36m (17-7)
Progressions - 4.81m, 4.96m, 5.11m, 5.21m, 5.31m, +5 cm
- Fairbanks also won the CAA title in his event, taking the pole vault championship for the second year in a row.  He set his lifetime-best at UVA in late April, jumping 5.08m (16-8), one of four vaults over 16-feet this spring, after coming into the year with an outdoor best of just 4.66m (15-3.5).

6:00 PM - 1,500m Run First Round - Ryan McGorty
NCAA Finals Predicted - 3:46.22; School Record - 3:35.84
Four Heats, Advance top five per heat and next four times
- McGorty joins W&M all-time great Paul Vandegrift '92 this week as the only men in school history to compete in the NCAA 1,500m three-straight years.  He won the 1,500m three weeks ago at the CAA Championships, and ran his best time of the year, 3:44.94, at George Mason in mid-April.  That was just off of his best of 3:44.67 set last season at Mason as well.  McGorty is in the fourth of four heats, a prime set-up to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal for the first time either as a top-five finisher in his heat, or as one of the next four fastest times.

8:35 PM - 800m Run First Round - Miles Owens
NCAA Finals Predicted - 1:47.63; School Record - 1:46.56 (1:45.8c 880y)
Six Heats, Advance top three per heat and next six times
- Owens was the CAA Champion at 800m for the Tribe three weeks ago, and also anchored the 4x400m relay to just its second conference title.  At George Mason in mid-April, he ran a lifetime-best 1:49.48, the fastest race for the Tribe since 2007, and he's the first from W&M to race at any round of the NCAA Championships in the 800m since the 2007 East Regional as well.  Owens has a kick to put himself in contention in his heats, winning the Colonial Relays each of his first two years with a strong kick down the homestretch.


Friday, May 24
4:00 PM - Discus Semifinals - KJ Cook, Preston Richardson, Troy Yearwood
NCAA Finals Predicted - 55.94m (183-6); School Record - 58.70m (192-7); Freshman Record - 52.60m (172-7)
- Cook also won the CAA title in the discus with another lifetime-best, 54.47m (178-8), en route to winning Most Outstanding Field Athlete of the CAA Championships.  He was second at the Colonial Relays, and took second as well as the IC4A Championships two weeks ago.  Cook competed in the discus at the NCAA Prelims last year, finishing 25th overall.
- Richardson was the runner-up to Cook in the discus at the CAA Championships with a lifetime-best throw of 54.17m (177-9), but then surged ahead of his teammate for the win at the IC4A Championships the following week.  Richardson was also fifth at the Penn Relays college division, and is making his first appearance in the NCAA discus.
- The rookie Yearwood is also making his first NCAA appearance, after throwing 52.35m (171-9) at the Stimson Memorial Meet earlier this season.  He went on to finish third at the CAA Championships and sixth at the Colonial Relays, while also taking third in the hammer at the CAA Championships as well.  Yearwood is the fourth W&M thrower since 2013 to qualify for the NCAA Championships as a freshman.

6:45 PM - 800m Run Quarterfinals - Miles Owens
NCAA Finals Predicted - 1:47.63; School Record - 1:46.56 (1:45.8c 880y)
Three Heats, Advance top three per heat and next three times
- If Owens can advance to the quarterfinals, he'll be the first from W&M to advance a round in the event since Anders Christiansen '99 did it indoors in 1999.  It would also make him one of just four men in school history to run multiple NCAA races in the 800m and 880y, alongside Christiansen, Reggie Clark '75, and Juris Luzins '69.


Saturday, May 25
2:45 PM - Shot Put Semifinals - Preston Richardson, KJ Cook
NCAA Finals Predicted - 18.56m (60-10.75); School Record - 18.37m (60-3.25)
- Richardson is qualified in the shot put for the second time, after finishing 35th back in 2017.  This season, he won the CAA Championship and the college division at the Penn Relays, setting the school record in the latter at 18.37m (60-3.25).  Richardson was also fourth at the IC4A Championships, his only performance outside of the top-three in seven meets this spring.
- Cook's qualification in the shot put makes him one of just seven men nation-wide, and one of four in the Eastern Preliminaries, to qualify for three individual events at this year's NCAA Championships.  His best mark this year came in a win at the Stimson Memorial Meet, 17.37m (57-0), and he also finished fourth at the CAA Championships and sixth at the IC4A Championships for All-East honors.  Cook is the first athlete in W&M history (men or women) to qualify for three individual NCAA events in one year.

6:45 PM - 1,500m Run First Round - Ryan McGorty
NCAA Finals Predicted - 3:46.22; School Record - 3:35.84
Two heats, Advance top five per heat and next two times
- If McGorty can advance to the quarterfinals of the 1,500m, he'll join former teammate David Barney '17 (in 2017) in achieving that feat in recent years.  In the years before the regional and preliminary systems came into being, the Tribe had a number of athletes advancing through two rounds of the 1,500m and the mile, including Brian Hyde '96, Paul Vandegrift '92, Hiram Cuevas '89, Hal Michael '71, Terry Donnelly '68, and Jim Johnson '66.  McGorty was 46th in the first round back in 2017 and 22nd overall on time last year, but did not advance after finishing 11th in his heat.