Aniamaka, Block, Reeves-Lile, and VanZeeland Set to Compete at NCAA West Regional Preliminary Rounds

MILWAUKEE – Divine Aniamaka, Natalie Block, Jaelyn Reeves-Lile, and Olivia VanZeeland of the Milwaukee track & field teams have qualified to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, taking place May 28-31 in College Station, Texas.
 

The West Regional athletes with the top 48 marks in their respective events will be competing at Texas A&M’s E.B Cushing Stadium across four days. The meet will be available to watch live on ESPN+ starting at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and at 5:00 p.m. the final two days.
 

 The top 12 athletes in each event will advance from the first-round sites to the NCAA Track & Field Championships, held from June 11-14 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
 
Returning to the West Prelims in both the 100m and 400m hurdles for the second year in a row will be Block. After claiming Horizon League titles in both races, she will look to punch her ticket to Oregon for the second time in the 400m hurdles, and add her first trip in the 100m hurdles.
 
The only Panther making their second regional appearance, Block currently ranks 17th in the West in the 100m hurdles with a top time of 13.16, and 22nd in the 400m hurdles at 57.71.
 
Block will run in the first round of both events on Thursday, the 100m hurdles will begin at 6:00 p.m. then she will finish the day with the 400m hurdles at 8:20 p.m. The top 24 finishers in the first round will advance the quarterfinal round held on Saturday.
 
Reeves-Lile made the cut after a tremendous finish to the season saw him win league titles and set school records in the 100m and 200m dashes. His time in the 200m dash of 20.51 puts him at 14th in the regional rankings, while he checks in at 35th on the 100m dash leaderboard with a mark of 10.24.
 
Reeves-Lile is set to be the first Panther in action on Wednesday, starting in the 100m at 7:00 p.m. before finishing in the 200m at 8:45 p.m. Both quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday should he advance.
 
VanZeeland earned her spot in the competition back on Apr. 17 when she cleared 1.80m in the high jump to leave her tied for 23rd in the region’s rankings and topple the program record. She continued her stellar season at the Horizon League Championships where she claimed her second high jump title with a mark of 1.75m. She will compete for her spot at Nationals on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
 
Rounding out the qualifiers will be Aniamaka, who recorded his best triple jump performance of the season at the league championships with a leap of 15.39m. The distance placed him 38th in the West and tied for the best jump in school history. He is slated to compete on Friday at 2:30 p.m.