University of Iowa Freshman and former Shelter Island track star, Kal Lewis has qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round of the 2021 Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is divided into East and West regions. Preliminary competitions are scheduled for May 26 to 29. The University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida will host the east Preliminary and Texas A&M will host the West Preliminary (see schedule here).
Qualifiers out of the regionals will compete in the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 9 to 12 in Eugene, Oregon.
Lewis’s 3:43.42 clocking for 1500 meters earlier this season earned him the trip to College Station. The field in the West Region is loaded. Forty-eight athletes qualified for the 1500. They will be divided into four heats of 12 each.
Of the 48 qualifiers, 28 have run equivalent to a sub-4:00 mile this year. Lewis’s best time for 1500 equates to a 4:01 mile. The time seeds him just 39th in the field and 10th in his heat, but the experience gained by competing at the NCAA Championships as a freshman is priceless and will provide the young Hawkeye a great opportunity to be pulled to a very fast time. His chances of qualifying for the trip to Oregon are very slim this year, but the experience will bring Lewis one step closer to that time when he will make it to the finals.
