NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State men's and women's track and field teams will send a combined 10 athletes to compete in 13 events at the NCAA East Preliminary Round competition in Jacksonville, Florida this Thursday through Saturday.

This year marks the first time in NSU's Division I era (since 1998) that the Spartan track teams have qualified 10 or more athletes in individual events for an NCAA regional meet. Individuals must be among the top 48 times or marks to be accepted to the East Preliminary meet.

On the women's side, the five-Spartan contingent is headed up by 2019 indoor All-Americans Martha Bissah and Kiara Grant. Bissah, a first-team indoor All-American this year and first-team outdoor All-American last year in the 800, will take the East Region's fastest half-mile time to Jacksonville this week. She ran a time of 2:03.13 while defending her MEAC title in early May.

Grant clocked a school-record 100-meter dash time of 11.07 seconds at the MEAC Championships, which ranks her No. 4 in the region. She will also compete in the 200 meters thanks to her time of 23.54 from the MEAC prelims. She was a second-team indoor All-American in the 60 meters in March. Tyrika Lee will also do the 100-200 double this week. She made her second straight regional in the 100m, posting a top time of 11.50. She has also run a 23.71 in the 200m. Both of her top sprint times this season came at the MEAC Outdoor Championship.

Freshman DaJah Parker-Love makes it three Spartan women qualified in the 100 meters. She advanced thanks to her time of 11.56 from the MEAC outdoor meet.

Like Parker-Love, sophomore Malika Pride will also be competing at the East Preliminary Round for the first time. Pride qualified in the 400 meters thanks to a PR of 53.50 seconds, which she ran at the conference championship earlier this month.

On the men's side, junior Jaylen Banks qualified in both the 110 and 400-meter hurdles events. Banks won the MEAC title and ranks No. 6 in the region in the 400-meter hurdles, with a top time of 50.43 seconds. He also clocked a time of 14.03 in the 110 hurdles. Banks is making his third straight regional appearance in the 400 hurdles, and his first at the 110m distance.

Sophomore Trequan Barnes qualified for the regionals in the 400 meters for the second year in a row. A second-team All-American indoors in March, Barnes ranks 18th in the region this season with a top time of 46.15 from the MEAC outdoor meet. 

Junior Jacob Milton will compete in the high jump for the third straight year. A six-time MEAC high jump champion, Milton has cleared 7 feet, 0.5 inch this spring.

Junior Bobby Price and sophomore Keith Brown will be competing in their first regional meets at the college level. Price won the MEAC high jump title with a personal-best leap of 25 feet, 10.25 inches earlier this month, which ranks him 10th in the field at the East Preliminary meet. Brown registered a PR of 10.39 seconds in the 100 meters earlier this season at the University of Virginia to also make the field.

Each of the 10 Spartans except Milton will compete on Thursday. First round heats in the 400 hurdles (Banks), 100 meters (Grant, Lee, Parker-Love, Brown), 400 meters (Pride, Barnes) and 800 meters (Bissah) will be contested, as will the long jump (Price). Quarterfinals heats in each of those track events will take place on Friday with berths at the national championship at stake. First-round heats in the 110 hurdles (Banks) and 200 meters (Grant) will also take place Friday, with quarterfinals set for Saturday for those who advance. The men's high jump, which includes Milton, will also occur Saturday.

The East Preliminary Round is being hosted by the University of North Florida. Athletes who finish among the top 12 in their respective events at the two preliminary rounds (East and West) will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships at the University of Texas from June 5-8.