University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Photo by: UNC Asheville
Huge Strides Made as a Bulldog Have Harding in Great Position Heading into NCAA East Regional
05.23.2017 | Track and Field
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Performance List (Click Link to Access)
Schedule of Events (Click Link to Access)
Complete List of Participants (Click Link to Access)
LEXINGTON, Ky. - It may not be something he expected before his arrival to UNC Asheville, but Matthew Harding has had a tremendous freshman campaign to put himself in this position.
"It's crazy," Harding said. "Coming into college, I never even thought by my senior year that I would be at the point that I am now. The strides I have taken this year are far beyond anything that anyone would have really predicted. As far as being a freshman and doing this, I think I am ranked as the third or fourth best freshman (in the 800m) in the East, so that's a pretty big deal in my mind knowing that every year if I keep being one of the best in my class level then hopefully I can be up there challenging for national titles by the time I'm a senior."
The Big South Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year, Harding qualified for the 2017 NCAA East Regional Preliminary in the 800 meters.
The preliminary will be hosted in Lexington, Ky., May 25-27, giving UNC Asheville's Harding a chance at advancing to the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 7-10.
Harding will open the regional in a first round qualifying heat on Thursday, May, 25. The men's 800 meters NCAA first round will start at 8:35 p.m. EST.
The 800 meters NCAA first round will feature six heats with Harding one of nine competing in heat three.
The top three in each of the six heats plus the next six fastest times will advance to the regional finals, dubbed by the NCAA as the national quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will take place at 6:45 p.m. EST, on Friday, May 26.
For his part, Harding does not totally know what to expect in Lexington, Ky., but he does have his own expectations.
"It's the first time I will have seen competition anywhere near this, so I'm trying to keep my expectations modest," Harding said. "I'm going in with the goal that I want to run a new PR and beyond that my ultimate goal is to make it to nationals."
Harding followed up his win earlier this year in the 800 meters at the league Indoor Track and Field Championships by winning the 800m at the Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 1:49.92 on Friday, May 12. The time was the second-best in program history in the event.
Harding owns the top time in program history in the 800 meters with a personal-record time of 1:48.82 that he ran earlier this outdoor season. The time is the second-fastest time in Big South Conference history.
Just like Harding, UNC Asheville track and field head coach Jesse Norman knows that he is going to face off against some of the best in the country in the regional, but he also knows he has the ability to make a statement.
"The big thing the first time you qualify for regionals is just to get that experience," Norman said. "It's one of the things we noticed with (2010-11 Big South Female Student-Athlete of the Year and Bulldog track and field great) Natalie Pearson DeRatt when she first qualified in 2010 as her eyes were the size of plates, so just to kind of get him to have that experience of racing against a level of competition he's never raced before (is important). This one is about going in there and competing and just getting your feet wet. Kind of mine and (assistant coach) Adam Puett's goals for him are to set one PR (in the first round) and live to fight another day and get a second PR out of him (in the regional finals/national quarterfinals), and see what we can do from there."
Norman knows that Harding has a bright future ahead of him no matter what happens in Lexington, Ky., and he also knows that the Bulldogs as a program are set up for big days in the coming years. Â
"I think having a freshman qualify is huge," Norman said. "For us, to have a distance kid qualify again is big. We've seen the benefits of it in recruiting and it's been able to get us some good distance guys, but also some other event groups that have seen what Matt has done this year and in turn want to help us as a team to take that next step in conference. He's kind of raised the level of everybody. He's somebody from the very beginning that has been very competitive and just because somebody was wearing an SEC or an ACC jersey, he wasn't scared of them and that's something we've been missing. I think that kind of attitude rubs off and I think you saw that at the conference championships in outdoors."
The NCAA East Regional Preliminaries will be streamed live at this link.
Performance List (Click Link to Access)
Schedule of Events (Click Link to Access)
Complete List of Participants (Click Link to Access)
LEXINGTON, Ky. - It may not be something he expected before his arrival to UNC Asheville, but Matthew Harding has had a tremendous freshman campaign to put himself in this position.
"It's crazy," Harding said. "Coming into college, I never even thought by my senior year that I would be at the point that I am now. The strides I have taken this year are far beyond anything that anyone would have really predicted. As far as being a freshman and doing this, I think I am ranked as the third or fourth best freshman (in the 800m) in the East, so that's a pretty big deal in my mind knowing that every year if I keep being one of the best in my class level then hopefully I can be up there challenging for national titles by the time I'm a senior."
The Big South Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Freshman of the Year, Harding qualified for the 2017 NCAA East Regional Preliminary in the 800 meters.
The preliminary will be hosted in Lexington, Ky., May 25-27, giving UNC Asheville's Harding a chance at advancing to the NCAA National Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 7-10.
Harding will open the regional in a first round qualifying heat on Thursday, May, 25. The men's 800 meters NCAA first round will start at 8:35 p.m. EST.
The 800 meters NCAA first round will feature six heats with Harding one of nine competing in heat three.
The top three in each of the six heats plus the next six fastest times will advance to the regional finals, dubbed by the NCAA as the national quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will take place at 6:45 p.m. EST, on Friday, May 26.
For his part, Harding does not totally know what to expect in Lexington, Ky., but he does have his own expectations.
"It's the first time I will have seen competition anywhere near this, so I'm trying to keep my expectations modest," Harding said. "I'm going in with the goal that I want to run a new PR and beyond that my ultimate goal is to make it to nationals."
Harding followed up his win earlier this year in the 800 meters at the league Indoor Track and Field Championships by winning the 800m at the Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 1:49.92 on Friday, May 12. The time was the second-best in program history in the event.
Harding owns the top time in program history in the 800 meters with a personal-record time of 1:48.82 that he ran earlier this outdoor season. The time is the second-fastest time in Big South Conference history.
Just like Harding, UNC Asheville track and field head coach Jesse Norman knows that he is going to face off against some of the best in the country in the regional, but he also knows he has the ability to make a statement.
"The big thing the first time you qualify for regionals is just to get that experience," Norman said. "It's one of the things we noticed with (2010-11 Big South Female Student-Athlete of the Year and Bulldog track and field great) Natalie Pearson DeRatt when she first qualified in 2010 as her eyes were the size of plates, so just to kind of get him to have that experience of racing against a level of competition he's never raced before (is important). This one is about going in there and competing and just getting your feet wet. Kind of mine and (assistant coach) Adam Puett's goals for him are to set one PR (in the first round) and live to fight another day and get a second PR out of him (in the regional finals/national quarterfinals), and see what we can do from there."
Norman knows that Harding has a bright future ahead of him no matter what happens in Lexington, Ky., and he also knows that the Bulldogs as a program are set up for big days in the coming years. Â
"I think having a freshman qualify is huge," Norman said. "For us, to have a distance kid qualify again is big. We've seen the benefits of it in recruiting and it's been able to get us some good distance guys, but also some other event groups that have seen what Matt has done this year and in turn want to help us as a team to take that next step in conference. He's kind of raised the level of everybody. He's somebody from the very beginning that has been very competitive and just because somebody was wearing an SEC or an ACC jersey, he wasn't scared of them and that's something we've been missing. I think that kind of attitude rubs off and I think you saw that at the conference championships in outdoors."
The NCAA East Regional Preliminaries will be streamed live at this link.
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
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Wednesday, March 18
Wednesday, March 11
Friday, February 06