With its largest contingent since 2003 and a legitimate national title contender at the core, Northwest Missouri State hopes to make some noise this week in the NCAA Division II national track and field championships.

The Bearcats sent seven athletes — five women and two men — to Angelo, Texas, where action begins today for all five of the women.

Emily Churchman (hepathlon, high jump), Kate Walter (hammer throw), Anna O’Brien (1,500 meters), Bridget Kleine (400-meter dash) and Audrey Bailey (400 hurdles) begin their quests for All-America status today at LeGrand Sports Complex on the campus of Angelo State University.

Walter will compete in the finals, while the others are preliminary heats.

The men join the action Friday, with Ben McKim competing in the shot put finals, and Tyler Shaw running the 110 hurdle preliminaries.

While Walter, Kleine and O’Brien are making their first trip to the outdoor championships, this is the second appearance for Bailey.

The senior is poised to become the first women’s outdoor national champion after posting the nation’s second-fastest time in the 400 hurdles. Bailey is the first Bearcat woman to break the 1-minute barrier, qualifying with a 59.98 clocking. That’s just 1.12 seconds off the time posted by top qualifier Christine Merrill of California-San Diego.

Bailey isn’t focusing on beating Merrill as much as she is running the best race she can.

“I’m just thinking about my own race, my own performance,” Bailey said. “If I can do that, the results are going to come with the performance. Right now, I’m just focusing on getting to the finals.”

Her success as a senior has forced her to revise her goals in her final year in a Northwest uniform.

“My goals at the beginning of the year were to win conference and break 60 seconds,” Bailey said. “With that behind me, I thought I would be satisfied, but I’m not. Now I want to prove to myself that I can be an All-American.”

Churchman will be busy all three days of the championships, competing in three of her events in the heptathlon today, four more on Saturday and taking her shot at high jump glory on Saturday, as well.

McKim and Shaw are making their second national championships appearance, but their first in an outdoor season.

McKim finished 10th at the indoor championships this season and has the nation’s sixth-best mark for the outdoor championships in a field loaded with MIAA talent. Seven of the 16 athletes competing in the shot put are from MIAA schools.

Shaw is one of three freshmen who will compete in the 110 hurdles preliminaries Friday night. He holds the sixth-best time in the field at a school-record 14.28 and will try to improve on his performance in the indoor championships that made him the national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com