Dawgs Post Twenty-Five Entries For NCAA Prelims

May 17, 2018 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

SEATTLE – The field of contenders are set. Forty-eight entries in the West and another forty-eight in the East in every event will eventually lead to one NCAA Champion. Washington will have 25 entries at the NCAA West Preliminaries next week in Sacramento, Calif. with 31 total athletes set to compete.

West Prelims, hosted by Sacramento State, will run from next Thursday through Saturday, May 24-26. Concurrently, South Florida will host the East Prelims on the same dates. The top-12 finishes from each site in each event will move on to Eugene, Ore. to make up fields of 24 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships from June 6-9.

The West Prelims can be watched live via a subscription to Flotrack.com.

Sixteen of the 31 Huskies to make the cut will be competing at Prelims for the first time in their careers.

On the men's side, the Huskies will have a pair of Pac-12 finalists in the 800-meters in freshman Devan Kirk and sophomore Connor Morello. Redshirt freshman Nate Beamer made the 1,500-meter field. Colby Gilbert will look to move through to the final site in the 5,000-meters while Gavin Parpart makes his first run at it. Andrew Gardner, an NCAA qualifier in 2016, comes in ranked 12th in the steeplechase.

Both men's relays made the cut, the men's group made up of Kevin Liu, Kemuel Santana, Ryan Croson, and Khalil Winfrey. The men's 4x4 of Santana, Evan Mafilas, Michael Thomas, and Croson got the final spot with its time of 3:08.81 at the Pac-12 Championships this past Sunday.

Zach Shugart and Blaise Black are in the pole vault field for the second-straight year. In the throws, Jose Padilla will go in the discus for the first time, while Denham Patricelli and Jacob Wachtendonk will throw javelin.

The women are led by senior Amy-Eloise Neale who is ranked fifth in the West in the 5,000-meters. Freshman Allie Schadler is in the 1,500-meters after making the Pac-12 final, and junior Hannah Derby is also stepping up to compete at 1,500-meters after racing at 800-meters a year ago and at Pac-12s last week. Sophomore Kaitlyn Neal will run her second-straight 10k after posting a qualifying time at Pac-12s, and Emily Hamlin will go in the steeplechase after making it in the 5k last season.

The Huskies had three 400-meter hurdlers make the cut, led by fourth-place Pac-12 finisher Hanna Tarleton, along with Carly Lester and Morganne Hill, all racing at Prelims for the first time.

Tarleton is also part of the 4x400m relay that reached Sacramento thanks to their season-best 3:38.03 set at Pac-12s in a fourth-place finish. She'll be joined by Iman Brown, Carolyn Birkenfeld, and Imani Apostol.

Annika Dayton and Tori Franzen will both make their West Prelim debuts in the pole vault, while senior Gina Flint got the 48th and final spot in the women's shot put.

2018 NCAA West Preliminary Championships
Men's Entries
800m: 20. Devan Kirk; 39. Connor Morello
1500m: 45. Nate Beamer
5000m: 15. Colby Gilbert; 41. Gavin Parpart
3000m Steeplechase: 12. Andrew Gardner
4x100m Relay: 22. Washington – liu, Santana, croson, winfrey
4x400m Relay: 24. Washington – Santana, mafilas, Thomas, croson
Pole Vault: tie-26. Zach Shugart; tie-46. Blaise Black
Discus: 34. Jose Padilla
Javelin: 22. Denham Patricelli; 42. Jacob Wachtendonk

Women's Entries
1500m: 26. Allie Schadler; 32. Hannah Derby
5000m: 5. Amy-Eloise Neale
10000m: 28. Kaitlyn Neal
400m Hurdles: 20. Hanna Tarleton; 36. Carly Lester; 42. Morganne Hill
3000m Steeplechase: 23. Emily Hamlin
4x400m Relay: 20. Washington – Tarleton, brown, birkenfeld, apostol
Pole Vault: tie-18. Annika Dayton; tie-41. Tori Franzen
Shot Put: 48. Gina Flint