Road to the NCAA Championships: Final Stop, Track Town, USA

The Athletic Awards Banquet last week may have celebrated the year's achievements of the DePaul student-athletes, but three Blue Demons have one more appearance to make before we can completely close the chapter that is the 2009-10 season. Alanna Kov

CHICAGO - The Athletic Awards Banquet last week may have celebrated the year's achievements of the DePaul student-athletes, but three Blue Demons have one more appearance to make before we can completely close the chapter that is the 2009-10 season. Alanna Kovacs, Brad Millar and Tim Nedow have been hard at work all year long for this one final stop: the 2010 NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Oregon hosts this season's championship on June 9-12 at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Hayward Field is one of the oldest active track and field stadiums in the country and has played host to numerous Pac-10 Championships, NCAA Championships and Olympic trials. All events, with the exception of the hammer throw, are contested within the stadium. The hammer throw takes place on a nearby field adjacent to the south of the stadium, and features its own seating area.

The Blue Demons go to work at 6 p.m. (CST) on Friday evening, when Millar enters the hammer ring. This is the senior's second appearance at the NCAA Championship, following a trip to Fayetteville, Ark. during the 2009 campaign. Millar qualified as the No. 15 seed following a 63.73m throw at the West Preliminary round, and has stretched the tape as far as 66.19m this year.

Each of the 24 throwers will be allotted three attempts. The top nine performers move on to the finals where three additional throws from each student-athlete are measured to determined the champion. The top eight individuals earn All American honors.

Kovacs makes her championship debut at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in the javelin throw. The sophomore placed eighth at the NCAA Championship West Preliminary with a personal-best toss of 50.09m. She heads in the championship finals ranked 10th in the field.

Nedow closes out the championships at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday in the men's shot put competition held in the west ring. The sophomore eclipsed the 18-meter mark at the DePaul Relays with a season-best throw of 18.05, and nearly matched that in prelims with an eighth-place throw of 17.90m. He enters the championships as the No. 18 seed.

Coverage of the NCAA Championships will be aired live on CBS from noon-2 p.m. on Saturday, while CBS College Sports will air a live broadcast on Friday from 7-9 p.m. Replays of Friday's program will air throughout the day on Saturday.

A live video stream will also be available at www.NCAA.com for a small fee.

Live results are also available on the NCAA Track and Field Championship page, and can also be followed on the DePaul Track and Field Twitter page. Full results and recaps can be found at www.DePaulBlueDemons.com following each day's competition.

DePaul University