EKurui, Jenkins and Sturgis capture first NCAA spots after day 1 of NCAA regionals in Fayetteville...

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas--Washington State's Evans Kurui (Paul Merca file photo) and Washington's Evan Jenkins clinched the first two spots to Eugene as day one of the NCAA West Regional at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas Wednesday.

Wednesday's competition saw the time schedule get shuffled due to some weather issues. While nearly all of Wednesday's scheduled events were completed, the pole vault was moved to Thursday, with a scheduled start time of 12:40 pm Pacific/2:40 pm local time.

Scheduling also affected the javelin, which finished past midnight, local time.

In the men's 10000, both Kurui and Jenkins positioned themselves among the top 15 runners in the large field of 48 through the first 6000 meters of the race.

400 meters later, Kurui broke the race open by throwing down a 62 second lap, then followed it up with six laps no slower than 66 seconds.

New Mexico's Habtom Samuel and Arkansas' Ernest Cheruiyot caught Kurui with one lap to go, but the Cougar had enough cushion to easily finish third, running a 59 last lap to finish in a time of 28:45.60.

Jenkins finished with a time of 28:51.40 to finish fifth.

Washington State's Muhammed Ahmed was 31st in 29:35.71, and teammate Josphat Meli was two places behind in 29:39.70. Gonzaga's Logan Schwartz was 45th in 30:35.76, while the Cougars' Solomon Kipchoge and Kutoven Stevens didn't finish.

In the only other final involving Washington athletes, former WSU Cougar Blake Sturgis (Idaho Athletics file photo), now competing eight miles away at the University of Idaho, launched a throw of 236-7 (72.12m) in the third round to finish eighth in the javelin and a spot at the national championships in Eugene.

Washington's Carson Olmstead was the unlucky 13th place finisher. Olmstead had a best of 224-6 (68.42m). Connell HS grad Carson Riner of BYU threw 215-11 (65.82m) to finish 18th.

Eastern Washington's Logan Ashbeck had a best of 206-6 (62.95m), finishing 26th, while former Husky Jack Olsen of Colorado State finished at 184-4 (56.19m). 

WEDNESDAY QUALIFYING...

Former Cougars John Paredes (13.52) and Parker Duskin (13.63) of Arizona advanced to the second round in the men's 110 hurdles on Friday, while Eastern Washington's Maddy Shekhawat was the fastest non qualifier at 13.82.

In the 1500, Washington's Tyler Bilyard (3:40.06), Martin Barco (3:41.82) and Reuben Reina (3:42.94) all moved on to Friday's second round, while Josiah Tostenson (3:48.89) of the Huskies didn't advance.

Former WSU Cougars Louie Hinchliffe of Houston (10.11), and Mason Lawyer (10.12) of Arizona advanced, as did former SeattleU standout Miguel Rosario (10.24) of Grand Canyon. Former WSU sprinter Keenan Kuntz of Idaho ran 10.33 but did not advance.

In the 200, Rosario (20.58), and Lawyer (20.68) both earned Qs to Friday, while Idaho's Kuntz ran 20.94 and didn't move on.

The 400 saw Alex Rhodes of Washington, who dropped out of the finals of the B1G Ten championships with an apparent injury to his foot, run 45.69 to advance to Friday's second round. Bellingham native Jacob Andrews of USC ran 46.36 to nab the final qualifying spot for Friday's second round.

Washington's Jonathan Frazier ran 50.93 in his first round heat of the 400 hurdles to move on to Friday's second round.

EAST REGIONALS RECAP...

In Lexington, Kentucky, Virginia's Jeremiah Nubbe, who attended Rainier HS, won the hammer at the NCAA East Regionals.

Nubbe had a best throw of 231-2 (70.47m) in round 3 to clinch the win, though any of his three throws were good enough to get one of the twelve spots to the national championships.

Former Washington State Cougar Kai Twaddle-Dunham, now competing for Auburn, threw a best of 56-1 (17.09m) to finish 39th overall.

Bellingham native Andre Korbmacher of Florida State advanced to Friday's second round in the 110 hurdles, running 13.48.

HERE'S WHO'S COMPETING THURSDAY:

The women take over John McDonnell Track for day two of the meet. Here's the list of competitors with Washington ties competing Thursday in both the West and East Regionals is below.

WEST REGIONAL:

Men's Pole Vault (rescheduled from Wednesday): Jimmy Rhoads (2) 18-10.25 (5.75m); Alex Blecha (36) 17-2.25 (5.24m)

100H:Micaela De Mello (Oregon, 8) 13.02, Sofia Cosculluela (26) 13.31

1500M: Rosemary Longisa (1) 4:02.55, Chloe Foerster (10) 4:08.64; Wilma Nielsen (Oregon, 14) 4:11.78; Mia Cochran (17) 4:09.95

100M: none

400M: none

800M: Chloe Symon (13) 2:02.61; Jenica Swartz (19) 2:03.13

400H: Kapiolani Coleman (UCLA, 20) 57.42; Jordyn Grady (43) 58.48

200M: Brooke Lyons (Arizona, 33) 23.25

10000M: Chloe Thomas (9) 32:19.59; Logan Hofstee (11) 32:21.15; Rosina Machu (22) 33:02.80; Maeve Stiles (25) 33:07.79; Zenah Cheptoo (27) 33:11.08; Abby DeVeau (28) 33:18.23; Charlotte Dillon (36) 33:32.93; Anna Grabowski (47) 33:50.80

JAV: Valentina Barrios Bornacelli (Missouri, 2) 191-4 (58.31m); Ashley Schroeder (11) 179-6 (52.72m); Saydi Orange (16) 173-8 (52.93m); Erin Tack (Arizona, 18) 173-3 (52.81m); Leonie Troeger (24) 166-1 (50.63m)

LJ: Ava Washburn (28) 20-8 (6.30m)

PV: Hana Moll (1) 15-10 (4.83); Amanda Moll (2) 15-2.25 (4.63m); Veronica Vacca (13) 14-6.25 (4.43m); Tatum Moku (Grand Canyon, 15) 14-4.5 (4.38m); Eva Lowder (Grand Canyon, 18) 14-3.25 (4.35m); Sara Borton (26) 13-10.5 (4.23m); Avril Wilson (42) 13-6.5 (4.13m)

SP: Haedyn Bambolo (Arizona, 20) 53-3.5 (16.24m)

EAST REGIONAL:

400M: Braelyn Baker (Duke, 4) 50.80

PV: Ella McRitchie (Harvard, 8) 14-5.25 (4.40m); Allison Neiders (Duke, 20) 13-10.5 (4.23m); Sarah Ferguson (Kentucky, 25) 13-9.75 (4.21m)

SP: Kaia Tupu-South (Louisville, 9) 57-7.75 (17.56m)

All four days of the NCAA West First Rounds will be streamed live via ESPN+ ($). The start list and link to live results for the NCAA West First Round is available here.

GROUP OF UW ALUMS TO COMPETE IN BERGEN, NORWAY THURSDAY...

A small group of Washington alums are competing in Thursday night's Trond Mohn Games in Bergen, Norway.

Aaron Ahl and Kieran Lumb are entered in the men's 1500, while Eleanor Fulton is in the women's 1500.

Sophie O'Sullivan runs in the women's 800, while Scott Toney is entered in the men's pole vault.

Ahl and Fulton competed last Saturday at the Sound Running LA Track Fest at UCLA.

The link to live results is available here. You can watch the live stream for free via the European Athletics website starting at 10:05 am Pacific time/7:05 pm Central European time.

NOTE: The NCAA, USTFCCCA, European Athletics, and the sports information offices of Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.

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