Complete Men's Field I Complete Women's Field
INDIANAPOLIS – Four Eastern Kentucky University track and field athletes have qualified for the NCAA Division I East Region Preliminary Championships to be held May 24-26 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Junior
Soufiane Bouchikhi enters the meet as the top-ranked runner in the East Region in the men’s 10,000 meters. His time of 28:35.91, which he ran at the Stanford Payton Jordan Invitational in April, is the eighth-fastest 10,000 meters time in the country and the second fastest 10,000 meters time in school history, trailing only Jacob Korir’s 28:04.47.
Bouchikhi will also compete in the men’s 5,000 meters, as he ran a qualifying time of 13:50.64, the 14th-fastest time in the region, at the Raleigh Relays in March. The native of Antwerp, Belgium was a second-team All-American in the indoor 5,000 meters this winter.
Senior
Ben Cheruiyot also qualified for the men’s 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters. Cheruiyot, a native of Eldoret, Kenya and a transfer from Auburn, is currently ranked eighth in the region in the 5,000 meters and 29th in the 10,000 meters. He ran a qualifying time of 13:47.62 in the 5,000 meters at the Stanford Payton Jordan Invitational and a qualifying time of 29:38.47 in the 10,000 meters last weekend at the Virginia Tech/Roanoke College Twilight Qualifier.
Sophomore
Ben Toroitich qualified in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. The native of Marakwet, Kenya enters the meet ranked 13th in the region, as he recorded his qualifying time of 8:50.50 last weekend at Cardinal Twilight Qualifier.
Junior
Picoty Leitich was the lone EKU woman to qualify for the regional meet. The native of Bomet, Kenya is currently ranked 16th in the East Region in the women’s 800 meters, as she ran a school-record time of 2:06.04 at the Raleigh Relays.
Six Colonels competed at the regional meet last year, including Bouchikhi, who finished his 10th in his heat of the men’s 5,000 meters with a time of 14:19.17, and Leitich, who placed fifth in her heat of the women’s 800 meters with a time of 2:08.57.
The top-12 finishers from each event advance to the NCAA National Championships to be held June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa.
