VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.- Carson-Newman track and field is headed to the NCAA DII Indoor Track and Field Championships to race for national recognition beginning this afternoon, Mar.10.

"We are excited to be here for nationals. It is a rare opportunity for an athlete to even provisionally qualify, and when you look at the fact that they only take the top 16, our athletes are in elite company," head track and field coach David Needs said.

Sade De Sousa will race in the women's 60-meter dash at 3:15 p.m. De Sousa was selected to compete after securing her 7.41-second seed time at the VMI Invitational earlier this season.

For the men, Makanakaishe Charamba was selected to attend the national meet for two separate events. Charamaba secured his ticket to the championships with a 6.72-second performance in the 60-meter dash as well as a 20.99-second seed time in the 200-meter dash.

Charamba will run in the men's 60-meter prelims this afternoon at 3:25 p.m. and 200-meter dash prelims at 5:20 p.m.

Kadidja Sangare was selected to attend to the national meet for her 6.00-meter seed mark in the women's long jump. Sangare secured a third-place finish at the VMI Invitational in January with her performance. 

Sangare will compete in the long jump finals today at 4:00 p.m.

"For us, we are excited to see how our athletes compete in this elite company, and I look forward to showing the country why these athletes are so special. What we have stressed all season is to control the controllables. The athletes need to focus on their technique and performance. We can't worry about who we are competing against. We just have to be the best us that we can be," Needs said.

The Eagles will compete today beginning at 3:15 p.m. Stay up to date on cneagles.com.