WICHITA, Kan. – Shockers Ben Johnson, Rebekah Topham and Aaron True will look to earn All-America honors at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships beginning June 5-8 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
 
Two weeks after finishing in the top-12 of the NCAA West Preliminaries, Shockers Aaron True (javelin) and Rebekah Topham (3000m steeplechase) are back in action, while teammate Ben Johnson is seeing his first action since earning an automatic qualifying decathlon score winning the American Athletic Conference championships with 7,413 points on May 11.
 
The 2019 NCAA Championships begins Wednesday, June 5 – Saturday, June 8 on the campus of University of Texas. Single day tickets can be purchased for $15, while a four-day multi-day pass is available for $60.
 
ESPN will broadcast all field events each day via ESPN3, while Wednesday's running events will be broadcasted on ESPN2 beginning at 6:30 p.m. Thursday's running events starting at 7:00 p.m., will be broadcasted on ESPNU and then switch over to ESPN2 beginning at 8:00 p.m. Friday's running events will be on ESPN beginning at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday's finals will broadcast on ESPN2 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
 
A complete schedule of events and broadcast schedule can be found in the links provided above.
 
Athletes that finish 1-8 in their respective events earn First Team All-American honors, while 9-16 finishers earn Second Team All-American honors. Honorable mention is given to athletes that finish 17-24, honorable mention is not awarded All-American status.
 
BEN JOHNSON PREVIEW
The 2018 Indoor heptathlon Second Team All-American will be making his first NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance, the Tonganoxie, Kan., native enters the meet ranked No. 17 with a personal best score of 7,413 points. Last time out Johnson won the American Athletic Conference decathlon title with a personal best of 7,413, the fourth best score in Shocker history. Day one of the men's decathlon begins Wednesday, June 5 at 2:30 p.m., while day two follows on Thursday, June 6 at 1:00 p.m. This is the third consecutive season a decathlete has qualified for the NCAA Championships.
 
AARON TRUE PREVIEW
Returning to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season, the 2018 All-American will look to better his eighth place finish from last year in Eugene. Based on the NCAA preliminaries, True enters the competition ranked No. 6 where he finished third in the NCAA West Regional with a throw of 71.30m/233-11. His season best mark of 75.33m/247-2 is ranked No. 3 on the 2019 performance list. True defended his American Athletic Conference title on May 10, winning the competition with a mark of 72.93m/239-3. The Leroy, Kan., native will be competing in the second flight Wednesday, June 5 at 6:45 p.m.
 
REBEKAH TOPHAM PREVIEW
The redshirt junior punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships on May 24, after finishing 11th in the NCAA West Regional with an American Athletic Conference and school record time of 9:53.92. Topham enters the meet seeded No. 11 and is scheduled to run heat No. 2 of the 3000m steeplechase prelims on Thursday, June 6 at 7:32 p.m. The top-5 finishers from each heat plus the next two fastest will advance to Saturday's finals at 5:54 p.m. The Griswold, Iowa, will be making her first appearance and is the first female Shocker in the program's history to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the 3000m steeplechase.
 
Wednesday, June 5
Ben Johnson
2:30 p.m. – 100m (ESPN3)
3:10 p.m. – Long Jump (ESPN3)
4:25 p.m. – Shot Put (ESPN3)
5:40 p.m. – High Jump (ESPN3)
8:56 p.m. – 400m (ESPN3)
 
Aaron True
6:45 p.m. – Javelin (ESPN3)
 
Thursday, June 6
Ben Johnson
1:00 p.m. – 110m Hurdles (ESPN3)
1:50 p.m. – Discus (ESPN3)
3:00 p.m. – Pole Vault (ESPN3)
5:30 p.m. – Javelin (ESPN3)
9:26 p.m. – 1500m (ESPN2)
 
Rebekah Topham
7:32 p.m. – 3000m Steeplechase (Semifinal)(ESPNU)
 
Saturday, June 8
Rebekah Topham
5:54 p.m. – 3000m Steeplechase (Final)(ESPN2)