Sophomore jumper Samory Fraga, senior thrower Reggie Jagers III, freshman decathlete TJ Lawson, sophomore jumper AJ Stevens and 5th year thrower Danniel Thomas will represent Kent State at the NCAA Track and Field Championships starting Wed., June 7, at University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

The five athletes are all that remain of the original 15 Flashes sent to the NCAA East Regional Preliminary meet May 25-27.

 Fraga qualified for the national championships by earning an 11th place regional finish in the long jump with a leap of 24 feet 7 inches. Fraga finished third in this year’s Mid-American Conference Championship and holds the third-best outdoor long jump at Kent State with a mark of 25 feet 1/2 inch.

Jagers secured his fourth career trip to the NCAA championship in discus after throwing 200 feet 11 inches, earning a third place finish at the regional meet. Jagers earned seventh place at last year’s NCAA championship with a throw of 195 feet 5 inches. Jagers also received the Outdoor All-American award three times and holds Kent State’s discus record at 202 feet 3 inches (2017).

Jagers throws discus at nationals Fri., June 9, at 8:05 p.m. EDT. 

Lawson won this year’s MAC decathlon and enters the championship as the 13th seed. Lawson holds Kent State’s second best decathlon score of 7,640.

Lawson’s journey in the decathlon starts on Wed., June 7, at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Stevens took eighth place in triple jump at regionals, securing his spot in the national championship with a jump of 51 feet 7 1/4 inches Stevens took third place at last year’s 2016 NCAA championship with a mark of 50 feet 1 3/4 inches. Stevens holds the third best mark in Kent State school history for outdoor triple jump with a mark of 52 feet 8 1/4 inches.

Stevens competes in the triple jump Fri., June 9, at 8:40 p.m. EDT.

Thomas took third place in both discus (181 feet 11 inches) and shot put (57 feet 4 1/4 inches) at regionals. Thomas was redshirted for the 2016 season, during which she competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics representing Jamaica. At the olympics, she took home a 25th place finish in shot put with a mark of 55 feet 9 inches. Thomas holds three best marks in school history — indoor shot put with a mark of 60 feet 1 1/4 inches, outdoor shot put with a best of 60 feet 8 inches and outdoor discus with a best throw of 194 feet 10 inches.

Thomas competes at nationals in shot put Thurs., June 9, at 9:40 p.m. EDT and discus on Sat., June 10, at 6:40 p.m. EDT.

Live results can be seen on the NCAA website, as well as the full schedule of events here.

Other notable finishes from the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries come from freshman Christian Champen who took 15th place in men’s pole vault with a vault of 16 feet 10 3/4 inches and junior Sam Tollerud who took 18th place in women’s pole vault at 12 feet 11 1/2 inches. Also, junior Gabrielle Figueroa earned 19th in women’s hammer with a throw of 186 feet 9 inches.

Alex Cossin is a sports reporter, contact him at [email protected].