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APSU Track and Field’s Tymeitha Tolbert, Savannah Amato head to NCAA East Preliminary

APSU Sports Information

APSU Women's Track and FieldClarksville, TN – A trip to Eugene, Oregon is on the line for sophomore Tymeitha Tolbert and junior Savannah Amato when they represent Austin Peay State University track and field at the 2018 NCAA East Preliminary, beginning Thursday in Tampa, Florida.

APSU Track and Field - Tymeitha Tolbert and Savannah Amato

Tolbert gets Austin Peay going out of Lane Four in Heat Five of the women’s 100m dash, 1:55pm (CT), Thursday. The Louisville native will be one of just two underclassmen in the eight-runner heat, joining Alabama freshman Tamara Clark, who ranks ninth in the entire nation, in Lane One.

Surrounding Tolbert in the fifth heat will be a veritable who’s-who of talent from around the region. Clark (fifth) and Clemson’s Torrie Robinson (ninth) are top-10 regional runners, while ACC runner-up Shauna Helps of Florida State and MAC champion Daziah Green of Akron also will line up alongside Tolbert.

The top three in each heat plus the next six times will advance to the quarterfinals; should Tolbert find herself among that group, she’ll compete again 1:15pm (CT), Friday, again in Tampa. The top three in each quarterfinal plus the best three overall times outside the top three would then advance to Oregon.

Where many unknowns await Tolbert in her first regional competition, it’s old hand for her teammate. Now a veteran of the preliminary process, Amato is making her third trek in as many years. Eighteen of the 24 competitors in Amato’s Flight One will be upperclassmen, including nine juniors including Amato.

She’ll have a familiar face right beside her, with Western Kentucky’s Morgan McIntyre—a frequent foe in area competitions—listed sixth on the order sheet, one spot behind Amato.

While just three of the top-10 regional competitors will be in Amato’s flight—Virginia’s Bridget Guy (second), Duke’s Madison Heath (third) and West Virginia’s Maddie Gardner (fourth)—Flight One is buoyed by conference champions from the America East (Binghamton’s Samantha Beyar), ACC (Guy, who is also fourth nationwide), Atlantic Sun (Kennesaw State’s Erica Sergeant), Colonial (Delaware’s Ashley Bailey), Conference USA (McIntyre), Ivy League (Penn’s Nicole Macco) and of course, Amato herself, who took her fifth straight Ohio Valley Conference title two weeks ago.

McIntyre, Sergeant, Macco, South Carolina’s Hailey Sweatman and Georgia Tech’s Ksenia Novikova have already been opponents at least once this season, with Amato already owning wins over McIntyre and Novikova. Heath and Duke teammates Laura Marty and Nati Sheppard, along with Dartmouth’s Julia Valenti, were among the opponents Amato faced in the second flight of last year’s Preliminary in Lexington, Kentucky.

This will mark the first time Amato is not paired with Kentucky’s Olivia Gruver or Cincinnati’s Brooke Catherine at a regional event; they’ll both take off in the second flight after Amato has concluded competition.

With inclement weather forcing alterations for the meet schedule, Amato is scheduled to take flight 8:30am (CT), Friday at the USF Track and Field Stadium. The top-12 will advance to the NCAA Championships in Oregon, June 6th-9th.

Live results will be provided by the NCAA, while FloTrack has stepped in to provide live video coverage for the event. For updates on Tolbert and Amato’s performances as they happen, follow @AustinPeayXCTF on Twitter, and look for the full recap each day at LetsGoPeay.com.

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