Northern Michigan University track and field star Crystal Walker is shown with some of her numerous awards she has won in recent seasons with the Wildcats’ team. The NMU senior is making make her third appearance at an NCAA Division II national championships meet after she competed in the preliminaries Friday of the 100-meter hurdles, hoping to make the final to be held tonight in Pueblo, Colorado. (Photo illustration courtesy NMU)

MARQUETTE — Senior Crystal Walker is making her third and final appearance at an NCAA Division II championships meet in women’s track and field this weekend in Pueblo, Colorado.

Competing at the Colorado State-Pueblo ThunderBowl in the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Portmore, Jamaica, native was running in the preliminaries of the 100-meter hurdles at about 8:30 p.m. EDT Friday night, hoping for a fast enough finish to qualify for tonight’s final set for 8 p.m. EDT back in Pueblo.

The 100 hurdles includes 22 contestants with prelims broken into three heats, the top two from each heat and the next three fastest times making up the nine-runner final.

Up-to-date results are available @NMU_Track_Field and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter), or by visiting the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under the NMU women’s track and field schedule for links to the meet.

Alternately, direct links to the meet websites are https://results.leonetiming.com/?mid=7870 and https://gothunderwolves.com/sports/2025/3/12/2023-ncaa-diviison-ii-outdoor-track-and-field-championships.aspx.

Earlier this month, Walker and teammates Teiolla Harvey and Alayna Vandegriff were named All-Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Walker was the only one of the three to be honored in more than one event, hers in the 100 hurdles and long jump, after her school record and top-five season performances in each event at the GLIAC Championships at Grand Valley State in Allendale from April 30 to May 2.

In that meet that capped off the conference season with NMU’s best-ever finish as team runner-up, Walker ran the preliminaries in the 100 hurdles in 13.68 seconds, which remained in the top 20 for all of Division II outdoor races by the end of the season and qualified her for the nationals.

She also set the school-record long jump distance of 5.93 meters (19 feet, 5 1/2 inches) at the GLIACs to finish as runner-up in that event. While it was an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, ultimately it didn’t get into the national meet.

Walker previously competed for Northern in the NCAAs at the indoor championships in 2023, taking 13th in the long jump with a leap of 5.66 meters (18-6 7/8), and at the 2024 outdoor finals, when she came in 14th in the 100 hurdles in 14.07 seconds.

She’s now striving for at least a top-12 finish that would bestow her with All-American status.

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.