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Following months of intense competition, collegiate athletes in the United States will end their season this week as the four-day National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Track and Field Championships will start tomorrow at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Twenty-eight Jamaicans, 15 males and 13 females are down to compete in individual events.

Tomorrow's opening day will see only the men competing and nine Jamaicans, led by long jumper Carey McLeod, will be in action. McLeod will lead two other Jamaicans, former Calabar High jumper Jullane Walker and Obrien Wasome, formerly of Jamaica College, into the finals. Action in this event gets under way at 8:30 p.m. Jamaica time.McLeod, the former Kingston College team captain, is the top-ranked Jamaican in the event and is also at number two among collegiate athletes with a distance of 8.34 metres. Representing the University of Tennessee, he will be hoping to get the better of the number one collegiate jumper and world number two, JuVaughn Harrison of Louisiana State University (LSU) who has a best of 8.44m. Wasome, competing for the University of Texas, Austin, has a season's best of 7.99 metres, while Walker, who will compete for Kansas State University, has a best of 7.96m.

FIRST JAMAICANS IN ACTION

Phillip Lemonious, Jamaica College past student, and former Calabar High team captain LaFranz Campbell will be the first Jamaicans in action. They are down to compete in the first semi-final of the men's 110 metres hurdles at 8:02 p.m. Jamaica time. Lemonious, competing for the University of Arkansas, has a season's best 13.22 seconds. He will run out of lane six, while Campbell, competing for Clemson and with a season's best of 13.53, will come out of lane seven. Semi-final two will see LSU's Damion Thomas, the 2018 World Under-20 champion, running out of lane four. With a season's best 13.22, he will be hoping to advance to the finals and add an outdoor title to his collegiate 60 metres hurdles indoor success from earlier this year.

The country's top male 400 metres runner this season, former St Jago High athlete Sean Bailey, will be competing in the colours of the University of Texas. Bailey, with a season's best of 45.24, runs in the men's 400 metres semi-finals which get under way at 8:30 p.m. Jamaica time. Wayne Lawrence Jr, the second fastest Jamaican so far in the event with a season's best 45.46, will compete in semi-final three. He will be representing the University of Iowa.

Leonardo Ledgister, the country's leading 400m hurdler this season, will be wearing the colours of Texas A&M University when the event starts at 9 p.m. Ledgister, with a season's best of 48.79, is ranked number two among college athletes.