NCAA announces qualifiers for Division I/II champs in Boston and Pittsburg...
INDIANAPOLIS--The NCAA announced the qualifiers for both the Division I and II NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships Tuesday night, to be held next week in Boston, and Pittsburg, Kansas next Friday and Saturday, March 9-10.
The Division I championships will be contested at The Track at new balance, a two year old facility that is on the campus of New Balance's world headquarters in Boston, while the Division II meet will be run at the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University.
DIVISION I
The Washington men's team, which finished a program high fourth at the national championships in 2023, qualified nine athletes plus its distance medley relay team.
Luke Houser (Paul Merca photo), the defending champion in the mile, is entered in both the mile and the 3000, where he's seeded first, and tenth.
Thanks to his 1:46.50 time in the 800 at last Friday's Ken Shannon Last Chance Invitational, NCAA outdoor 1500 meter champ Nathan Green will drop down in distance at indoor nationals, where he's seeded second. 2022 NCAA 1500 meter champ and USA world championships competitor Joe Waskom will run the mile, where he's seeded sixth.
Waskom, Green and Houser will be joined by Daniel Gaik on the distance medley relay, where they're seeded third after setting a short-track American record of 9:18.81 at the Arkansas Qualifier on February 16th.
Pole vaulters Mathis Bresko and Max Manson are both in the meet, seeded twelfth at 18-1.25 (5.52m).
Long jumper Prestin Artis makes his first appearance at the NCAA championships seeded 14th with a best of 25-10 (7.87m) set at the UW Indoor Preview on January 13th.
Rounding out Washington's entries are weight thrower Jayden White, whose mark of 77-10.25 (23.73m) has him seeded third, and heptathlete Bruno Comin Pescador, whose score of 6000 points has him seeded sixth.
The Huskies didn't enter both Green and Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who were both qualified in the mile.
Washington State will be represented on the men's side by heptathlete Mason Mahacek, whose score of 5762 points has him seeded 15th.
Washington high school products in the men's competition included Ridgefield HS standout Trey Knight (77-2/23.52m), who won the MPSF championship meet in Spokane on Monday; Stevenson HS product Garret Bernt of Northern Arizona (75-2.75/22.93m), and Rainier HS's Jeremiah Nubbe (74-9.25/22.79m) in the weight throw. Knight, who transferred from USC to Cal State Northridge, is seeded fifth. Bernt is seeded eighth, while Nubbe, who attends the University of Texas, is seeded tenth.
In the women's meet, Washington will have five individuals and a distance medley relay team going to Boston.
Husky seniors Carley Thomas and Wilma Nielsen are entered in the 800. Thomas, the UW school record holder, is seeded fifth, while Nielsen, who made the finals in this event last year at Bradley University, is seeded 13th.
Chloe Foerster, who set a UW school record in the mile of 4:28.14, is seeded fourth in the event, while pole vaulters Hana Moll and Nastassja Campbell are seeded first and 16th.
The Huskies, who set the collegiate record in the distance medley relay of 10:43.39 on February 16th in Boston about 2.5 miles away from the Track at new balance, have their quartet of Foerster, Anna Terrell, Marlena Preigh, and Thomas declared. Washington, who is seeded first, does have some options for relay subs, including world championships 1500m competitor Sophie O'Sullivan, who didn't qualify for the NCAA championship meet in an individual event.
Washington State's lone female entry is pole vaulter Eva Lowder, who qualified with the same mark as UW's Campbell at 14-4.5 (4.38m).
Washington high school products qualified for the national championships include Bear Creek HS alum Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame in the 3000 (seeded 1st) and the distance medley relay (3rd); Lake Stevens grad Taylor Roe of Oklahoma State in the 3000, 5000 and DMR (12th/4th/6th); Kate Jendrezak from Eastside Catholic, competing for UCLA in the 800 and 4x400; and pentathlete Alaina Brady of Tahoma HS, competing for Notre Dame (12th).
Former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell is entered for Oregon State in the 3000, seeded tenth.
One significant change to the time schedule is that the men's and women's weight throw competition has been moved to 6 pm eastern time on Thursday, while the women's competition will commence two hours later, due to some issues within the facility.
ESPN+ will stream the championships live starting at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday, March 8 and starting at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time Saturday, March 9. There will be a re-air of the championships at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, March 11 on ESPNU.
DIVISION II
Central Washington qualified four individuals in five events for the championships, while Western Washington qualified two individuals and a relay team. Seattle Pacific will have one representative at the national championships.
GNAC champion E'lexis Hollis of Central Washington returns to nationals in the 60 meter dash after winning the conference championship in a school and conference record time of 7.29, and will be the number three seed.
Two time 60 hurdles champ Lauryn Chandler returns to the national championship after winning the conference championship in a personal best of 8.55. She'll be seeded number 13.
Freshman Emy Ntekpere heads to Pittsburg set to compete in both the high and triple jumps, where she's seeded number eight in the high jump, and number 13 in the triple jump. She has broken the school record in the triple jump (40-4.25/12.30m), and is second in school history in the high jump (5-8.5/1.74m).
Heptathlete Drew Klein is the lone men's representative for the Wildcats, coming in as the 14th seed. Klein qualified with a score of 5198 points, set earlier this year at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial, which is good for third in CWU history. Of the seven events in the heptathlon, the pole vault is Klein's greatest strength.
Western Washington's lone male representative is Kevin McDermott, who qualified in the mile, 3000 and 5000, but will opt out of the mile at the NCAA championships.
McDermott, who was the second man in conference championship history to win three events in the distance races (mile, 3000, 5000) goes into nationals seeded tenth in the 3000 at 7:59.27, and seventh in the 5000 at 13:50.77.
Marian Ledesma is the sole women's individual competing in the meet for the Vikings, as she qualified in the 800 seeded 14th at 2:10.13.
Seattle Pacific's only qualifier is 5000 meter runner Annika Esvelt, who is seeded 15th with a time of 16:41.33.
Both days of the NCAA Division II championships will be streamed on NCAA.com.
NOTE: The NCCA contributed to this report.
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