The 2018 NCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships are next weekend, June 6-9, at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field. View the full list of qualifiers here, check out our rankings here and read on as we preview the women's sprint events.

Women's 100m & 4x1: Aleia Hobbs Leads The LSU Show

4x100m Relay Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 4:02 PM PT
4x100m Relay Final: Saturday, June 9 | 3:32 PM PT
Key Teams: LSU, Kentucky, USC, Oregon

100m Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 5:16 PM PT
100m Final: Saturday, June 9 | 4:22 PM PT
Key Athletes: Aleia Hobbs, Mikiah Brisco, Ashley Henderson, Twanisha Terry, Gabrielle Thomas, Shania Collins, Jada Baylark

Analysis: Reigning NCAA 100m champion Mikiah Brisco of LSU is back to defend her title, but it's actually her teammate, fellow Tiger senior Aleia Hobbs, who is favored to win and potentially break the collegiate record in Eugene. 

Hobbs won the NCAA 60m title indoors, and was actually favored to win last year after clocking the second-fastest time in collegiate history, 10.85, and winning the SEC title, which she successfully defended earlier this month. Her season's best effort of 10.90 (+1.9) is the fastest wind-legal mark in the NCAA this season.

The NCAA record belongs to an LSU alum, Dawn Sowell, who ran 10.78 in 1989. The weather in Eugene is unpredictable, especially for sprint races, but if conditions are right, Hobbs could challenge one of the oldest records in the book.

Whether Hobbs or Brisco wins the individual final, they'll team up together to lead the Tigers' collegiate record-holding 4x100m relay. Last year yielded a disappointing disqualification despite coming in as NCAA record holders, so they'll have plenty of motivation—maybe even enough to further improve their record of 42.05.

If LSU falters, defending champions Kentucky own the next-fastest time this season in 42.30, which makes them the third-fastest program of all time behind LSU and Oregon.

Beyond LSU's Hobbs and Brisco, other top contenders include USC freshman Twanisha Terry, the Pac-12 champion whose wind-legal season-best is 10.99; Ashley Henderson of San Diego State, who was the NCAA runner-up in 2016 and set her career-best at 10.98 this season; Tennessee's Shania Collins, the SEC runner-up whose season-best is 10.99; Harvard's Gabby Thomas, the reigning indoor 200m national champion and collegiate record holder who ran a wind-aided 10.98 to win her East Prelims section, and Jada Baylark of Arkansas, who didn't make the SEC final but won the West Prelims in 11.04.

Women's 200m: Gabrielle Thomas, Ashley Henderson, Lynna Irby To Clash Against Loaded Field

Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 6:14 PM PT
Final: Saturday, June 9 | 5:07 PM PT
Key Athletes: Gabrielle Thomas, Ashley Henderson, Lynna Irby, Shania Collins, Kortnei Johnson

Analysis: The women's 200m is absolutely loaded, even without superstar Sydney McLaughlin of Kentucky, who was fourth at NCAA indoors and ran a season's best of 22.39. 

Reigning NCAA indoor champion Gabrielle Thomas of Harvard turned heads in March when she clocked a stunning 22.38 to set the indoor collegiate record just moments after Ashley Henderson ran one-hundredth of a second off of it in 22.41. Now, we'll finally get to see these two face off head-to-head for a national title. With wind-legal season-bests of 22.42 and 22.59, respectively, both are certainly in peak form.

The fastest woman in the nation this season, though—and fifth-fastest in the world—is Georgia's Lynna Irby, the true freshman who stormed to a third-place finish at NCAA indoors and a blazing 22.25 career-best to win the SEC Outdoor Championship. Irby's toughest challenge will be coming back for the 200m final only 30 minutes after what will certainly be a tough 400m final on Saturday evening.

Shania Collins of Tennessee, the SEC runner-up, is worth watching as well. The senior clocked the fastest all-conditions mark in collegiate history, 21.97, with the aid of a massive +5.3 tailwind during the first round of the East Prelims. No other collegiate woman has ever broken 22 seconds, wind or no wind. In the final round, she placed second to LSU's Kortnei Johnson, 22.56 to 22.69 (+0.5).

Could Thomas, or another woman, break the NCAA Division I record for the second year in a row? Florida's Kyra Jefferson ran 22.02 to beat Dawn Sowell's 18-year-old record of 22.04 in Eugene last June.

Women's 400m: With Kendall Ellis vs. Lynna Irby, Courtney Okolo's 49.71 Record Is In Danger

Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 5:30 PM PT
Final: Saturday, June 9 | 4:32 PM PT
Key Athletes: Kendall Ellis, Lynna Irby, Makenzie Dunmore, Sharrika Barnett, Brionna Thomas

Analysis: Kendall Ellis established herself as an all-time great during the indoor season when she set an American and NCAA DI record of 50.34 to win her first individual national title. The USC senior charged into outdoor season by becoming the second collegian in history to break 50 seconds in an open race, clocking 49.99 to win the Pac-12 Championships.

But she may have to break 50 seconds again to secure the outdoor 400m title with the likes of Georgia super-frosh Lynna Irby (50.44 SB) on her tail. 

Courtney Okolo's two-year-old NCAA record of 49.71 may be in danger.

Without Kentucky's Sydney McLaughlin (50.07 SB) in the race, the open 400m appears to be a two-woman affair. But Makenzie Dunmore of Oregon (50.63 SB) and Sharrika Barnett of Florida (50.69 SB) are as dependable as anyone in the NCAA and should certainly be counted on to pick up major points in this event. Brionna Thomas of Purdue (51.13 SB) has developed into a consistent low-51 runner this spring.

Women's 400m Hurdles: The Sydney McLaughlin Show

Analysis: The only thing Kentucky's Sydney McLaughlin has to chase in the 400m hurdles is, at this point, history. She blew away training partner Kori Carter's collegiate record of 53.21 with a blazing 52.75 at the SEC Championships—a full three seconds faster than anyone else in the NCAA this season. 

Even when she tripped on the second-to-last hurdle at East Prelims, she still ran 55.5—faster than all other NCAA women!

Kymber Payne of LSU is the only other woman to break 56 seconds this season and her best is 55.86.

McLaughlin has to look at the U.S. all-time list for motivation now. She's currently tied at No. 5 all-time with Shamier Little, and is within striking distance of reigning Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad's PB of 52.64. 

The American record is 52.47, set by Lashinda Demus in 2011, and—to be completely honest—I wouldn't be shocked if she gets close...

Women's 100m Hurdles: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn Aims For 12.39 NCAA Record

Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 5:02 PM PT
Final: Saturday, June 9 | 4:12 PM PT
Key Athletes: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Pedrya Seymour, Rushelle Burton, Devynne Charlton, Chanel Brissett, Alaysha Johnson, Alexis Duncan, Dior Hall 

Analysis: Kentucky's Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran one-hundredth of a second off reigning Olympic champion Brianna McNeal's NCAA record of 12.39 to win the SEC Championships, and you better believe she is ready to put her name at the top of the list.

The junior is back in the form that saw her win NCAAs and make the Olympic team for Puerto Rico as a freshman in 2016. (Not that she was so far off from that fitness in 2017, when she earned runner-up honors at NCAAs). 

So far, she's crushed her competition, but there are a slew of women who return from last year's final, including Texas' Rushelle Burton, who was third last year and owns the No. 2 time in the NCAA at 12.65, and Purdue's 100m/100H double Big Ten champion Devynne Charlton, whose 12.70 SB ranks No. 3.

There's also Illinois-to-Texas transfer Pedrya Seymour, who ran 12.72 this season, owns a 12.64 PB and was sixth in the Rio Olympics; plus Pac-12 champion Chanel Brissett, a freshman at USC and former high school national record holder who has already run 12.75 in college.

Women's 4x400m Relay: Get Ready For Some Fireworks

Semi-Final: Thursday, June 7 | 7:18 PM PT
Final: Saturday, June 9 | 5:51 PM PT
Key Teams: Kentucky, USC, Purdue

Analysis: Our final team projections lend the Georgia women a two-point advantage over Kentucky, and a close team race always means fireworks in the 4x4.

Thanks in no small part to the sub-50 second abilities of Sydney McLaughlin on the third leg, the Wildcats rule the mile-relay so far this season with a best of 3:25.99 that won SECs by a second and a half over LSU.

But don't forget that USC, the new-age "quarter-mile U," won the NCAA indoor title by more than a second over Purdue, 3:27.45 to 3:28.82, less than half a second off their own school and NCAA indoor record of 3:27.03.

It will be hard to top last year's record-setting, 3:23.13-3:23.35 battle between Oregon and USC, but if we're blessed with a McLaughlin vs. Kendall Ellis anchor leg showdown, that would honestly be just as good.