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The Preliminary Championship for Track and Field is here. Athletes who are ranked in the top-48 nationally in their respective event earned berths to the NCAA Preliminary Championships. For each relay event, the top-24 declared relay teams also qualified for the East and West prelims. There are no finals, just first and/or quarterfinal/semifinal rounds to set qualifying; in field events, there are three attempts at each discipline.
Athletes with the top-12 times or marks and the 12 best relay teams at West Preliminary Championships will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Finals in Austin, Texas.
Flo-Track listed 10 athletes to watch at the West Preliminary Adva Cohen and Weini Kelati from New Mexico and Allie Ostrander from Boise State all made the list.
Here is a brief highlight of the athletes who have a good chance to qualify for Austin.
Colorado State (18 Athletes in 16 events plus two women’s relays, see complete list here)
Senior Hunter Powell has automatically qualified for Austin in the decathlon.
Senior Shadae Lawrence making her fourth appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 1st in the discus.
Senior Kelcey Bedard making her fourth appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 10th in the discus and 7th in the hammer throw.
Sophomore Destinee Rocker making her second appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 8th in the 100 hurdles.
Senior Cole Rockhold making his third appearance in the West Preliminary. He is ranked 9th in the 5,000 meters.
Senior Marybeth Sant making her second appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 14th in the 100 and 33rd in the 200 meters.
Freshman Adam Dawson making his first appearance in the West Preliminary. He is ranked 15th in the discus.
Sophomore Jessica Ozoude making her first appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 16th in the 200 meters.
Freshman Lauren Gale making her first appearance in the West Preliminary. She is ranked 17th in the 400 meters (17)
Women’s 4x100 relay – Sant, Ozoude, Rocker Gale is ranked 7th.
Utah State (11 men and 6 women qualified, see complete list here)
Sindri Gudmundsson - The junior from Kopavogur, Iceland, is making his third appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships as he will be competing in the javelin. Gudmundsson ranks sixth in the west (ninth nationally).
Hunter Simonsen - The sophomore from Kaysville, Utah, is making his first appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships as he will be competing in the high jump. Simonsen is ranked 18th in the west (T-41st nationally).
Brenn Flint - The senior from Syracuse, Utah, will be making her fourth appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships as she qualified in both the shot put and discus. In the shot put, Flint is 12th in the west (T-23rd nationally). She is ranked 23rd in the west (39th nationally) in the discus.
Cierra Simmons-Mecham - The senior from Soda Springs, Idaho, is making her third appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Simmons-Mecham ranks seventh in the west (10th nationally).
Air Force (13 men and 5 women, see complete list here)
Junior Michael Rhoads is making his second appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. He is ranked 8th in the 800-Meter.
Junior Parker Spearman is making his second appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. He is ranked 16th in the Javelin.
Senior Jacob Bilvado is making his second appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. He is ranked 18th in the 5000- Meter.
Boise State (18 Athletes in 21 entries, see complete list here)
Addison Dehaven, Clare O’Brien and Allie Ostrander will be doubling up in Sacramento. Both Dehaven and O’Brien will be contesting the 5,000-meter/10,000-meter double, while Ostrander will be attempting the 3,000-meter steeplechase/5,000-meter double for the third-consecutive season. Ostrander is a two-time defending national champion in the steeplechase.
After making the national championship in the 1,500-meter and 800m, respectively, both Alexis Fuller and Kristie Schoffield look to accomplish the feat again in 2019.
Wyoming (11 Athletes, see complete list here)
Jerayah Davis is also seeded fourth in both the 100m dash and the long jump. Davis’ 100m time of 11.18 is a school record, and is one of just six athletes in the West to run an 11.20 or better this season. Davis’s busy weekend will continue in the long jump, where she is also seeded fourth with a leap of 21 feet, 2.5 inches. This is Davis’ third-consecutive trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries.
Ja’la Henderson is competing in both the long jump and the triple jump for the second-consecutive season, and advanced to the NCAA National Championships in both in 2018. In fact, Henderson won the triple jump title last season with a school-record leap of 44 feet, 3.5 inches.
Harry Ewing will enter the steeplechase as the seventh-ranked runner in the West.
New Mexico (10 men and 7 women, see complete list here)
UNM will have an event-high five entries in the women’s 5000-meters to highlight the three-day meet, with Lobos holding the top-three times in the event. Kelati holds the top time of the 48 West entries with her 15:23.46, followed by Adva Cohen’s time of 15:31.01 and Ednah Kurgat’s time of 15:32.70. All three have qualified in multiple events.
Kelati and Kurgat also qualified in the 10,000-meter with Kelati holding the top time in the event.
Cohen and Prouse enter the preliminary round holding two of the top three times in the steeplechase.
San Diego State (11 Athletes, see complete list here)
Bonnie Draxler is ranked second in both the West and Nation in the pole vault.
Nyjari McNeil is ranked 15th in the 800 meters.
4x400 meter relay of Lisa-Anne Barrow, Maya Brosch, Jalyn Harris, Nyjari McNeil, and Sakura Roberson is ranked 12th.
UNLV (7 Athletes, see complete list here)
Jasmyne Graham (11th/13.07), Jada Hicks (15th/133.13) and Taylor Pegram (13.16m) in the 100m hurdles, while Graham is also a qualifier in the long jump (45th/6.11m).
Kaysha Love and Mackenna Howard will also make the trek to the Golden State in the 100m (15th/11.38) and shot put (17th/16.19m), respectively.
Nevada (6 Athletes, see complete list here)
Sophomore Nicola Ader will advance directly to the NCAA National Championships in the heptathlon, with her mark of 5,590 ranking 18th in the NCAA.
Senior Lindsey Sickler qualified in the steeplechase with a time of 10:04.66. Sickler’s steeplechase time is ninth in the west region
Fresno State (6 Athletes, see complete list here)
Heading straight to nationals will be Jestena Mattson in the heptathlon. Mattson, is ranked 14th overall.
San Jose State (4 Athletes, see complete list here)
Craig Huff, the 2019 Mountain West 3000-meter steeplechase champion, is ranked #16 in the West in his specialty. A senior from Huntington Beach, Calif., Huff will be competing in his second NCAA Preliminary Round Championship.