​By Taylor Dutch and Dennis Young

With the release of the NCAA West and East Preliminary confirmed entries, the FloTrack staff made a list of notable takeaways that will affect the competition heading into the championship season. Here are the notable scratches and confirmations that caught our eye. Note: these are not the final declarations for the meet; they're merely the first round of scratches and entries before final declarations and start lists are posted later this week.

WEST WOMEN

Oregon’s Deajah Stevens scratched the 100m after finishing third at the Pac-12 Championships, but she’ll more than likely be in two relays and is confirmed in the 200m.

Arkansas’ Taylor Ellis-Watson scratched the 200m despite being ranked No. 2 in the region. She remains confirmed in the 400m and will likely run on the Razorbacks’ 4x400m relay.

NCAA indoor mile champion Kaela Edwards will maintain her focus on the 1500m. She officially scratched the 800m despite holding a season’s and personal best of 2:01.97 from Mt. SAC Relays.



Akela Jones scratched the open 100m hurdles, high jump and long jump, which indicates that she will more than likely go straight to the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Finals. Jones, of Kansas State, is the defending indoor national champ and co-collegiate record holder in the indoor high jump.

Returning NCAA pole vault champion Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin is entered in the meet despite suffering a hand injury when her pole snapped in half at Texas Relays. She has not competed since then.

WEST MEN

Texas A&M’s Devin Jenkins scratched both the 100m and the 200m despite being ranked No. 13 and No. 1, respectively, in those events in the West Region. His region-leading 200m time of 20.39 ranks No. 6 nationally.

Texas’ Aldrich Bailey Jr. has opted to focus on the open 400m and scratch from the 200m despite holding the third-fastest 200m mark in the region. The Longhorns will likely use his 45.50 400m season’s best as well as his proven strength on their relay squads to improve upon their No. 8 NCAA team ranking.

Stanford’s Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher both scratched the 1500m in favor of the 5K. McGorty ran a 3:53 mile indoors but is the current NCAA leader in the 5K with a personal and season’s best of 13:24 from the Payton Jordan Invitational. Freshman phenom Fisher made his 5K debut in the same race where he clocked 13:39, making him the 12th fastest performer in the NCAA this season.



Long jumper Aaron George of Texas State scratched from the long jump after jumping 7.99m this season. His mark stood at No. 1 in the west and No. 3 in the nation.

Full NCAA West Preliminary Entries

EAST WOMEN

Freshman Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Kentucky won the SEC 100m hurdles in 12.69, making her the No. 2 performer in the NCAA this year and the No. 12 performer of all time. But she’s also entered in the 200m.

Indoor pentathlon champ and defending outdoor heptathlon runner-up Kendell Williams of Georgia is skipping all individual events, setting up a showdown with Kansas State’s Akela Jones.

EAST MEN

Akron’s Clayton Murphy and Penn State’s Brannon Kidder are opting for the 1500m only; both are scratching the 800m. Murphy is the 2016 indoor national champ in the 800m and Kidder and Murphy are the top two returners from the 2015 outdoor 800m.



Justyn Knight of Syracuse is scratching the 1500m and 10K and only competing in the 5K. He ranks No. 4 in the nation in the 1500m.

Tommy Awad of Penn is only contesting the 5K, scratching the 1500m after running an NCAA No. 2 time in the 1500m at the Swarthmore Final Qualifier.



Full NCAA East Preliminary Entries