Huskies and Cougars to each send 26 athletes to NCAA West Regionals...
Four of Washington’s five NCAA Division I schools will have athletes competing at next week’s NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, Texas on May 25-27th, as those athletes look to qualify for the NCAA finals in Eugene June 7-10th.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships begin with the West Preliminaries and East Preliminaries, with 48 athletes in every event and 24 relays qualifying for each prelim site. The top-12 finishers at both prelim sites will advance, making for fields of 24 in each event, to the final site in Eugene, where competition resumes June 7-10.
The University of Washington goes into the regionals with 26 qualified individuals and 28 entries, including both of their 4 x 400 meter relay teams.
Leading the charge for the Huskies are Pac-12 champions Liz Quick (left/photo by Paul Merca) in the pole vault and Carson Fuller in the javelin.
On the women’s side, Huskies going into the regionals with top-12 rankings include Hannah Derby (7) in the 800; Amy-Eloise Neale in the 1500 (1) and 5000 (2); Izzi Batt-Doyle (7) in the 10000; and, Quick & Kristina Owsinski (t8) in the pole vault.
Fuller is the lone Husky on the men’s side that will go into the regionals with a top-12 ranking, as he sits fifth.
Washington State goes into the regionals with 26 individuals, with Sam Levora (5000/10000), Devon Bortfeld (steeple/5000) and Kiana Davis (high jump/triple jump) doubling.
The Ccugars have Brock Eager (3) in the men’s hammer, CJ Allen (4) in the 400 hurdles, Atina Kamasi (7) in the women’s javelin; and Adam Mahama (12) in the men’s discus seeded among the top 12.
Alissa Brooks-Johnson is entered in the 400 hurdles, and has already qualified for the national championships in the heptathlon.
Troy Fraley of Gonzaga goes into the NCAA regionals ranked #1 in the steeplechase. He will be joined at the regionals by Jesica Mildes in the 10000, and Jake Perrin in the men’s 5000.
Eastern Washington will send five athletes to the regionals—javelin thrower Samantha Baker, 1500 meter runner Kaili Keefe, and Sarah Reiter in the 5000 and 10000 on the women’s side, and long jumper Trenton Osborn and discus thrower Scott Miller on the men’s side.
The most notable athlete missing from the list is Washington’s Colby Gilbert in the men’s 5000. Gilbert, who has the eighth fastest time in the country in the 5000, and was the 2016 Pac-12 champ in that event, did not compete in last week’s Pac-12 championship due to what was described as a “slight injury”. That reported injury was serious enough for the UW coaching staff to not enter him in the meet.
Among notable Washington high school standouts qualified for the regionals ranked in the top 12 include Marcus Chambers of Oregon (5) in the men’s 400; Hannah Cunliffe of Oregon (5 in the 100; 6 in the 200); Brooke Feldmeier of Oregon (8) in the women’s 800; John Dressel of Colorado (10) in the men’s 5000; and, Aaron Castle of Arizona (5) in the men’s shot put.
The list of men’s qualifiers for the NCAA West Regionals is available here; the women’s qualifiers are available here.
TRACKTOWN SUMMER SERIES DRAFT CONDUCTED FRIDAY...
TrackTown USA conducted its draft of athletes for the TrackTown Summer Series meets Friday at the Oregon Convention Center, with general managers Bernard Lagat (Portland Pulse), Nick Symmonds (San Francisco Surge) and Sanya Richards-Ross (Philadelphia Force) announcing the picks in person, and Allyson Felix (New York Empire) making her selections via Skype.
Former Seattle area resident Devon Allen (110 hurdles) was the first pick of the Philadelphia Force, while Bernard Lagat selected former Puyallup resident Hassan Mead (3000m) in round 3.
Nick Symmonds of San Francisco went with two athletes from the Seattle based Brooks Beasts—Shaq Walker (800m) and Hannah Fields (1500 in the fourth round.
They join contracted athletes McKayla Fricker (800/San Francisco), Cas Loxsom (800/New York), and Katie Mackey (1500/New York) as athletes who have committed to compete in the series, which will be contested in Palo Alto on June 29th, Gresham, Oregon on July 2nd, and the finals in New York on July 6th.
Teams can continue to fill their rosters with free agent athletes between now and the start of the series at the end of June.
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