Lansing Sun

Five athletes from Michigan State University began their journey at the NCAA East First Round, with Heath Baldwin leading by securing a spot in the 110m hurdles final. The MSU women's team is set to start their competition on Thursday.

The event, which spans four days, features men's preliminaries already completed, while women's competitions begin Thursday evening. Finals for men and women are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, respectively. All events will be streamed live on ESPN+. Weather conditions may affect the schedule.

Athletes placing in the top 12 of their events will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, from June 5-8. They will compete against top finishers from the West Regional held in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Baldwin positioned himself well by finishing second in his heat and twelfth overall among 24 qualifiers with a time of 13.80 seconds in the 110m hurdles. Other performances included Colby Morlock finishing eighteenth in shot put, CarLee Stimpfel ending his collegiate career thirty-eighth in the 10,000m race, Noah Sage not advancing past his preliminary round in the 200m dash, and Adam Blue failing to clear any height in pole vaulting.

On Thursday, graduate student Lauren Freeland aims for her second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships in the 1500m event. Freeland previously finished as an NCAA All-American and holds a Big Ten Championship-winning time of 4:14.55.

Sophomore Sophia Mettes returns to Lexington with her personal best mark achieved earlier this year during an event at Shively Track and Field Stadium. She enters with a ninth-seeded mark following a challenging indoor season.

Freshman Jessica Stieb and junior Opal Jackson represent MSU's shot put team on Thursday evening. Stieb broke an indoor record earlier this year while Jackson holds an outdoor record but did not register a distance at last year's NCAA Championships.

Shae Harbaugh competes as forty-fifth seed in her first NCAA event after achieving a personal best that earned her podium placement at the Big Ten Championships.

Sophomore Natalie Blake enters as thirty-seventh seed with her pole vaulting personal best achieved during this season's Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

Senior Kaia Scheffler looks forward to competing after qualifying with her sixth-place finish time of 13.41 seconds at the Big Ten Conference championships.