Strickland Reaches NCAA Quarterfinals for Women's Track and Field

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Junior Victoria Strickland finished second in her heat on Thursday at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Bloomington, Ind., to automatically advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals in the 800 meters for the University of Pennsylvania women's track and field team.

Strickland will compete for a spot in the NCAA semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Also competing on Friday for the Quakers is sophomore Morgan Wheeler in the javelin at noon. Both have to finish in the top 12 to advance to the NCAA Semifinals and Finals in Des Moines, Iowa.

In the NCAA First Round, on the E.C. Billy Hayes Track at Indiana University's Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, Strickland was second to fellow Ivy runner, Kate Grace of Yale. The top three in each heat reach the quarterfinals and Strickland was clear by more than a second over the fourth-place finisher with her time of 2:09.14. She is seeded 12th heading into Friday's quarterfinals and finished with the 23rd-best time among the 48 first-round competitors.

The NCAA Championship meet extends over two weekends in a three-week span at three different sites. The first weekend is now known as the NCAA Preliminary Round and is broken up into two different sites - East (Bloomington, Ind.) and West (Eugene, Ore.), which host the NCAA first round and quarterfinal round in each event as well as some of the NCAA semifinals.

The top 24 finishers in the first round advance to the quarterfinals where the top 12 will advance to compete in the semifinals and finals of the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, June 8-11.