Spartan Track & Field Duo Set For NCAA Indoor Championships

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Redshirt sophomore Annie Fuller and redshirt junior Nick Guerrant are set to represent Michigan State track & field at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships March 8-9 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL | STREAM DAY ONE

Competition gets underway Friday at 1 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. CT with the start of the heptathlon, featuring the Spartans' Guerrant. The 60-meter dash is the first of the seven events to be contested, followed by the long jump, shot put and high jump as Friday moves along. The heptathlon finishes Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run.

Fuller is also set to go Friday as the women's mile prelims are the first action on the track, beginning at 6:35 p.m. ET/ 5:35 p.m. CT. Ten runners advance from Friday's prelims into the Saturday final, the top four finishers from each heat and the next two best times.

"I think both of them have a great chance to score this weekend, and I think that's what we're going for," MSU director of track & field Walt Drenth said. "The progression Annie has made throughout the year from essentially not running early in the season to running 4:35 is a pretty good trajectory. She ran a full workload at the conference meet and I feel like she has a good shot to run faster and be right in the mix."

Guerrant's 5,783 point championship-winning performance at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 22-23 broke the heptathlon school record he set last year at the same event, and also set a new facility record at the U-M Indoor Track Building. He enters the NCAA Championships with the sixth-best mark in the country this season. He posted personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles (8.17 seconds) and the 1,000-meter run (2:43.77), while coming up just a hundredth of a second (6.93) from a new personal record in the 60-meter dash. Guerrant finished in 13^th-place in the heptathlon at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.

"I think Nick has a great chance to score, he's the Big Ten champion indoors and the Big Ten champion outdoors," Drenth said. "I felt like he learned a lot at the conference meet by watching the progression of the way it went on. Every time you get to a national championship, you learn something. You learn a little bit of presence and feel more and more like you belong."

Fuller is coming off a very strong performance at the Big Ten Indoors, capturing two medals for the Spartans. She ran an impressive personal best in the women's mile, crossing the line in 4:35.63 to grab third-place and post a top-20 time nationally. Fuller enters the NCAA Championships as the 11^th-seed in the event. She won her first medal of the Big Tens on Feb. 22, running the fourth and final leg (1,600-meters) of the women's distance medley relay to help the Spartans take gold. The team finished in a time of 11:05.23 to beat rival Michigan, who posted the top time in the country this season the week before.

"Seeing what these two have done and are doing can give us a jumpstart as a team heading into the outdoor season," Drenth said. "These two are components to our success, but I'm pleased with what the team has done this week. Sprinters, jumpers and throwers all stayed back to practice and our distance runners have an assignment as well. We're looking forward to what's coming."

The NCAA Division I Indoor Championships will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the WATCHESPN App. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 10 p.m. ET Sunday, March 10 on ESPN2 and again Monday, March 11 starting at 10 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

Spartan Track & Field Duo Set For NCAA Indoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Annie Fuller

Nick Guerrant