JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When the NCAA East Region Preliminaries begin on Thursday at North Florida's Hodges Stadium, the University of South Alabama men's and women's track and field programs will be entering the competition with the largest contingent in program history.

"We're always trying to improve the program, I think that if you look at the trend with the number of student-athletes we are getting to compete in postseason it indicates we are heading in the right direction," explained Jaguar head coach Paul Brueske, who was named the Sun Belt Conference Women's Head Coach of the Year on Monday.  "We still have a lot of work to do, but we are starting to make some progress; the number of kids we have competing at the NCAA East Regional is a sign that we are doing so."

Three times in the last 10 years a trio of Jags have advanced out of the regional to the NCAA Championship, including last season when Kaitlyn Beans, Renaldo Frechou and Jan-Low Kotze all accomplished the feat.  Frechou earned first-team All-America honors for the second straight year in the men's hammer throw after coming in fifth place, with Beans and Kotze receiving honorable mention All-America recognition following top-20 performances in the women's triple jump and men's discus, respectively.  Beans was also an honorable mention All-American in the triple jump in 2014.

"What we expect is that our student-athletes go out there and compete to the best of their ability," Brueske stated.  "If we can get some personal bests along the way, that would be great.  But all we can ask is that they go out there and do the best that they can, if they do that in competition I think they will be fine.  We really would like to see a few of these individuals who have legitimate chances advancing to the NCAA finals in Oregon, that's obviously something that we want to achieve with this trip."

One hope Brueske has coming into the meet is that his team's experience will be beneficial in individual performances.  Ten of 16 Jaguars who qualified for the first segment of the national championship have done so at least once during their collegiate careers, with Beans, Frechou, Kotze and Patrick Rohr all making at least their third appearance at the regional.

"I think big-meet experience for those guys who have been there before will make them less nervous, they know what to expect.  That definitely helps reduce the nerves," said Brueske.  "Since we have so many people who have experience, they'll be able to pass on their knowledge; that leadership from our upperclassmen is going to be beneficial to the younger athletes."

Frechou, Zach Blahnik and Barbara Rivera will be the first Jags to compete at the regional on Thursday, with the men's hammer throw and women's javelin set to begin at 11 a.m. (CDT).  Frechou will be seeded 16th among the 48 competitors in the field based on a 66.37m he recorded in winning the event at the Sun Belt Conference Championship on May 13, while Blahnik is the No. 37 seed after posting a toss of 63.18m at the same meet to place third.  Rivera is ranked 31st in in the javelin coming into the meet with a 46..27m throw at the Jaguar Opener on March 4.

At 3:30 pm that day Niel Giliomee is set to take part in the men's pole vault, entering the competition seeded 17th after clearing 5.22m at the South Alabama Invitational April 15.  The first two Jags to take part in running events will be Christoph Graf and Rafael Scott; the former earned the 39th seed in the men's 1,500 meters last month with a time of 3:45.12 at the War Eagle Invitational, while the latter stands 25th in the region entering the men's 100-meter dash after posting a mark of 10.35 seconds May 14 in the preliminary round of the event at the SBC Championship.  Preliminary heats for the first distance will begin at 5 p.m., while the opening round in the sprint gets underway nearly an hour later.  Should either advance, the quarterfinals of the 100-meter dash start Friday at 5:45 p.m. with the 1,500-meter run quarterfinals slated to go off at 5:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Four individuals will participate in field events on Friday.  Phoebe Dowson will take part in the women's discus at 11 a.m., and after recording a 48.99m mark on the final day of the conference championship will be the 46th seed.  At 3 p.m., Kotze will be seeded third in the men's discus — his mark of 62.11m at the Pepsi Florida Relays nearly two months ago still ranks fourth in the country — with Jordan Friz and Kayla Carlie the 30th and 40th seeds, respectively, in the women's pole vault slated to begin at 4 p.m.  Friz set the school record in the event by clearing 4.10m in March at the John Mitchell Alabama Relays, while Carlile finished second at the league meet almost two weeks ago with a career-best 4.05m height.

Both Matthew Dillon and Ravaughn Pope are in the field for the first round of the men's 110-meter hurdles, set for a 4:30 p.m. start that afternoon.  Both clocked their fastest times of the season on March 5 at the Jaguar Opener, with the former seeded 32nd with a time of 14.06 seconds and the latter ranked 48th in the field after posting a 14.23 second mark.  If either moves on, the quarterfinals of the event are slated to begin Saturday at 6:20 p.m.  Scott will be back in action as the 27th seed in the 200-meter dash — the first round will start at 7:25 p.m., with the quarterfinals scheduled to the following day at 6:50 p.m. — after he was timed in 20.80 seconds at the league meet, with Rohr seeded 44th in the final event of the evening, the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, based on a 8:57.19 mark recorded at last month's Mt. SAC Relays.  The gun will go off for the race at 8:30 p.m.

A trio of women are schedule to compete in field events on Saturday as the competition comes to a close.  LaMia Miller will take part in the shot put at 2:30 p.m., while at 5:30 p.m. both Kaitlyn Beans and Kriszti Szabo will be in the field of the triple jump.  Miller gained entry to the meet by posting a 15.02m mark March 25 at the Louisiana Classics and is the 46th seed in the discipline.  Beans will be seeded 31st and Szabo 39th with leaps of 12.77m and 12.60m, respectively, at Mississippi State's Jace LaCoste Invitational on April 30, although the former won the event at the Sun Belt Championship with a school record-tying mark of 13.19m.

The top 12 in the final round of qualification in each event will advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled to be held in Eugene, Ore., June 8-11.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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