NCAA announces field for first round meet on the road to Eugene...

INDIANAPOLIS--The NCAA and the Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Committee Thursday released the qualifiers for next week's West First Round meet, that will take place May 27-30th in Fayetteville, Arkansas (photo courtesy Arkansas Athletics).

The meet, which is hosted by the University of Arkansas, is comprised of the top 48 individuals and top 24 relay teams in each event from the West region. A separate first round meet for the East region is also being contested in Lexington, Kentucky, hosted by the University of Kentucky on the same dates.

The two regional meets are the first step towards the NCAA Division I national championships in Eugene June 10-13th.

The only individual events that won't be contested at the two first round meets are the combined events. For the decathlon and heptathlon, the NCAA is going straight off the descending order list as of last Sunday's conference championship meets. 

Washington's Sofia Cosculluela, who is ranked number one, and Puyallup native JaiCieonna Gero-Holt of Illinois, who is ranked number 4, will advance directly to the national championships in the heptathlon, while Tomeko Cates of the Huskies, who is ranked 22nd in the country in the decathlon, will go directly to Eugene for the NCAA championships.

All are qualified to compete at regionals in individual events. Cosculluela will compete in the 100 hurdles, while Cates will compete in the high jump. Gero-Holt, who is qualified in the high jump, will forego the regionals and prepare for the national championships.

OBSERVATIONS:

Just so you can make a comparison, here's a link to the projected qualifying athletes that we wrote before the announcement from the NCAA on our buymeacoffee.com site.

Among notable scratches, Washington State's Rosemary Longisa, will focus on the 1500m and not do the 800/1500 double. Ditto for Washington's Chloe Foerster.  Reuben Reina of Washington is out of the 5000 to concentrate on the 1500. Former Husky Wilma Nielsen of Oregon, the reigning indoor mile champ, is out of the 800 to concentrate on the 1500.

Walla Walla native Dash Sirmon of Nebraska, who was seeded fifth, will not compete at regionals. He did not compete at the B1G Ten meet last week on his home track.

Carnation native Braelyn Baker of Duke, who was an NCAA scorer last year in the 400 hurdles, is only entered in the flat 400. She is seeded fourth in the 400, and was seeded fifth in the 400 hurdles at the end of the qualifying period.

The two biggest beneficiaries of scratches were Josiah Tostenson of Washington in the 1500, and Logan Schwartz of Gonzaga in the 5000. Neither were in the top 50 after the conference championship qualifying period ended Sunday.

Seattle University continues its streak of futility in not qualifying a single athlete to the NCAA First Round. Since becoming a Division I school in 2012, the closest that anyone has sniffed the NCAA championships in track were Dylan Burnett in the javelin in 2013 & 14, and Shaddye Melu in the high jump in 2015. Those two only got as far as the West Preliminary round, and not to the national finals.

In any other NCAA Division I program, that would be deemed unacceptable, despite their program being underfunded.

Former SeattleU sprinter Miguel Rosario (GCU Athletics photo), a graduate of Renton's Hazen HS, is qualified in both the 100 and 200 meters. The Grand Canyon standout is seeded twelfth in the 100, and fourth in the 200, where Rosario has a strong chance to qualify for the nationals in Eugene.. He transferred to GCU after the 2024 season.

There are eleven athletes in the two regional meets who competed for Washington State last year: Mason Lawyer of Arizona, and Keenan Kuntz of Idaho in the 100 and 200; Grant Buckmiller of LSU in the 400; John Paredes and Parker Duskin of Arizona in the 110 HH; Kai Twaddle-Dunham of Auburn in both the shot and discus; Blake Sturgis of Idaho in the javelin; Brooke Lyons of Arizona in the 200; Micaela De Mello of Oregon in the 100H; and Tatum Moku & Eva Lowder of Grand Canyon in the pole vault.

Lawyer, Paredes, Duskin and Lyons followed Gabriel Mvumvure, their event coach at WSU to Arizona, while Moku and Lowder followed vault coach Derick Hinch to GCU. Sturgis followed Julie Taylor across the border to Idaho.

Here's the list of qualifiers:

MEN

WASHINGTON

400: Alex Rhodes (3) 44.94

1500: Reuben Reina Jr (9) 3:37.32; Tyler Bilyard (14) 3:37.99; Martin Barco (34) 3:40.01; JOSIAH TOSTENSON (48) 3:41.47

5000: Evan Jenkins (26) 13:32.34

10000: Evan Jenkins (15) 28:03.51

400H: Jonathan Frazier (28) 50.69

3000ST: Isaac Briggs (15) 8:38.10

HJ: Leland Lieberg (29) 7-0.25 (2.14m); Tomeko Cates (40) 6-11.5 (2.12m)

PV: Jimmy Rhoads (2) 18-10.25 (5.75m)

TJ: Trevontay Smith (30) 51-7.25 (15.73m); Roman Hutchinson (40) 50-10.75 (15.51m)

JT: Carson Olmstead (19) 227-0 (69.20m)

DEC: Tomeko Cates (22) 7632 points; straight to nationals (top 24 from national descending order list)

WASHINGTON STATE

5000: Evans Kurui (6) 13:17.61

10000: Evans Kurui (4) 27:48.06;  Josphat Meli (36) 28:38.43; Solomon Kipchoge (37) 28:40.22; Kutoven Stevens (41) 28:44.67; Muhammed Ahmed (44) 28:49.08

GONZAGA:

5000: LOGAN SCHWARTZ (47) 13:45.74

10000: Logan Law (48)* 

3000ST: Logan Law (26) 8:42.45; Paul Talens (42) 8:47.19

EASTERN WASHINGTON:

110H: Maddy Shekhawat (32) 13.78

PV: Alex Blecha (36) 17-2.25 (5.24m)

TJ: Dieumerci Migani (41) 50-10.75 (15.51m)

DT: Cort Gebbers (47)* 181-2 (55.22m)

JT: Logan Ashbeck (44) 209-3 (63.78m)

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY:

none

WOMEN

WASHINGTON

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

1500: Chloe Foerster (10) 4:08.64; Mia Cochran (10) 4:09.95

5000: Chloe Thomas (14) 15:32.36; Julia David-Smith (21) 15:38.76; Mia Cochran (24) 15:41.53

10000: Chloe Thomas (9) 32:19.59; Maeve Stiles (25) 33:07.79; Abby DeVeau (28) 33:18.23

100H: Sofia Cosculluela (26) 13.31

3000 ST: Josephine Welin (32) 10:16.98

PV: Hana Moll (1) 15-10 (4.83); Amanda Moll (2) 15-2.25 (4.63m); Veronica Vacca (13) 14-6.25 (4.43m); Sara Borton (26) 13-10.5 (4.23m); Avril Wilson (42) 13-6.5 (4.13m)

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

JT: Ashley Schroeder (11) 179-6 (52.72m); Saydi Orange (16) 173-8 (52.93m); Leonie Troeger (24) 166-1 (50.63

HEP: Sofia Cosculluela (1)  6093; straight to nationals (top 24 from national descending order list)

WASHINGTON STATE

1500: Rosemary Longisa (1) 4:02.55

5000: Zenah Cheptoo (42)* 15:52.26

10000: Zenah Cheptoo (27) 33:11.08

3000 ST: Caroline Jepkorir (6) 9:59.08; Mercy Biwott (20) 10:10.99

GONZAGA

5000: Rosina Machu (25) 15:42.01; Logan Hofstee (28) 15:42.84

10000: Logan Hofstee (11) 32:21.15; Rosina Machu (22) 33:02.80; Charlotte Dillon (36) 33:32.93; Anna Grabowski (47)* 33:50.80

EASTERN WASHINGTON

400H: Jordyn Grady (43) 58.48

SEATTLE UNIVERSITY:

none

OTHER NOTABLES WITH WASHINGTON TIES QUALIFIED FOR NCAA FIRST ROUND

MEN

100: Mason Lawyer (Arizona, 3) 9.93w; Louie Hinchliffe (Houston, 4) 9.93w; Miguel Rosario (Grand Canyon, 12) 10.09; Keenan Kuntz (Idaho, 29) 10.18w

200: Mason Lawyer (Arizona, 2) 20.02; Miguel Rosario (Grand Canyon, 4) 20.13w; Keenan Kuntz (Idaho, 38) 20.58

400: Grant Buckmiller (LSU, 19) 45.45; Jacob Andrews (USC, 29) 45.96

110H: Andre Korbmacher (Florida St, 8) 13.36; John Paredes (Arizona, 8) 13.41; Parker Duskin (Arizona, 20) 13.62

3000 ST: Rob McManus (Montana St, 5) 8:31.85

SP: Kai Twaddle-Dunham (Auburn, 42) 58-9.5 (17.92m)

DT: Kai Twaddle-Dunham (Auburn, 18) 191-10 (58.48m); Jeremiah Nubbe (Virginia, 23) 188-10 (57.57m)

HT: Jeremiah Nubbe (Virginia, 1) 242-0 (73.76m)

JT: Blake Sturgis (Idaho, 10) 240-2 (73.21m);  Jack Olsen (Colorado St, 40) 211-8 (64.51m)

WOMEN

200: Brooke Lyons (Arizona, 33) 23.25

400: Braelyn Baker (Duke, 4) 50.80

800: Wilma Nielsen (Oregon, 30) 2:03.30 OUT

1500: Wilma Nielsen (Oregon, 14) 4:11.78

100H: Micaela De Mello (Oregon, 8) 13.02

400H: Kapiolani Coleman (UCLA, 20) 57.42

3000 ST: Ashley Reeck (Idaho State, 17) 10:06.91; Victoria Rodriguez (Wake Forest, 34) 10:09.14

HJ: JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (Illinois, 14) 6-0.5 (1.84m) OUT

PV: Ella McRitchie (Harvard, 8) 14-5.25 (4.40m); Tatum Moku (Grand Canyon, 15) 14-4.5 (4.38m); Eva Lowder (Grand Canyon, 18) 14-3.25 (4.35m); 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); Haedyn Bambolo (Arizona, 20) 53-3.5 (16.24m)

JT: Valentina Barrios Bornacelli (Missouri, 2) 191-4 (58.31m); Erin Tack (Arizona, 18) 173-3 (52.81m)

HEP: JaiCieonna Gero-Holt (Illinois, 4) 5994 straight to nationals (top 24 from national descending order list)

Name in BOLD FACE indicates athlete was added to field after scratches; name with * indicates they were ranked 49th or 50th at the end of the qualifying period and before scratches.

Some notables who we overlooked when we published our projected qualifiers were Western Washington grad Ashley Reeck of Idaho State in the steeplechase, and former WSU Cougar Blake Sturgis of Idaho in the javelin.

All four days of the NCAA West First Rounds will be streamed live via ESPN+ ($). The top 12 individuals in each event will qualify for the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 10-13.

NOTE: The NCAA, University of Arkansas, Grand Canyon University, University of Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.

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