INDIANAPOLIS, Indi. --- With the NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships qualifiers being announced, Biola will be sending two athletes, Emily Alvarez and Rebeka Preston, to Allendale, Mich. 

Emily Alvarez and Rebeka Preston become Biola's first-ever NCAA Division II Track & Field national qualifiers since the transition to NCAA DII. 

"It's great to have two athletes make the National Championship," said Head Coach Sean Henning. "I was happy that we had eight provisional national marks this year. Unfortunately, it was a really competitive year so only two got in."

Alvarez, a graduate student transfer, made her presence known at Biola immediately. In her third meet as an Eagle, she broke the school record in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:00.28. She was also a key member on the 4x100 relay team that also set a new school record this season. 

Alvarez has been battling an injury and sat out the past two meets including the PacWest Championships. "She has been running for the past few days after a couple of weeks of cross training," Henning said. "We feel like she will be ready to go compete hard and put herself in a position to finish well." 

The seasoned veteran is currently ranked seventh in the nation and has her eyes set on finishing in the top-eight to earn All-American honors.

Preston, Biola's multi-events athlete, has been pretty well rounded this season. A late check in at the PacWest Championships eliminated Preston from competition, a devastating blow for the junior and her team. 

Fortunately for Preston, she had one last chance to compete at the APU Twilight Meet and she took advantage of the opportunity. Preston wrapped up day one of the meet with a 119 point improvement from her last day one.

Preston continued to wow her coaching staff as she set personal bests in the 100 hurdles, shot put, long jump and javelin. She put up solid marks in the high jump, 200m and 800m to round out the heptathlon. Her efforts secured a total of 5,043 points, ranking Preston 12th in the nation.

"We are very grateful to have two ladies who have worked incredibly hard to make it to Michigan," said Henning. "Both have a great chance of being All-Americans, and that's our goal. They just need to execute in their events and have full control over their thoughts, emotions and how those affect them in competition."

Alvarez and Preston continue to fine tune their craft as the two prepare to head to Allendale, Michigan for the NCAA Division II Track & Field Championships. Competition begins on Thursday, May 27 through Saturday, May 29. 

Details for the events that Alvarez and Preston will be competing in can be found below. The complete meet schedule can be found here. 

Day One - Thursday, May 27 (EST)
Heptathlon
9:30 am    100 Meter Hurdles 
10:15 am    High Jump
11:45 am    Shot Put
1:00 pm    100 Meters
6:55 pm    Women's 400 Meter Hurdles Prelims

Day Two - Friday, May 28 (EST)
Heptathlon
9:30 am    Long Jump
11:15 am    Javelin
12:30 pm    800 Meter

Day Three - Saturday May 29 (EST)
7:05 pm    Women's 400 Meter Hurdles Finals