Three Huskies Headed For NCAAs After Prelims Day One

Thursday, May 23

Sacramento, CA

12:00 PM

University of Washington

NCAA West Preliminaries

May 23, 2019 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

2019 NCAA West Preliminary Championships
May 23-25 | Sacramento, Calif. | Hornet Stadium

Event Schedule | Men's Start Lists | Women's Start Lists

Flotrack Live Stream | Live Results

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A terrific first day for the Husky track and field squad at NCAA West Preliminaries saw three Huskies push on to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with 10 more Dawgs advancing from the first round to the quarterfinals on Friday or Saturday.

At Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium, women's hammer thrower Onyie Chibuogwu broke through to Nationals for the first time to start things off, then Chase Smith survived some third-attempt stress in the men's pole vault to qualify. Senior Izzi Batt-Doyle then rolled to her second NCAA Outdoor meet in the women's 10,000-meter run.

The NCAA West Prelims take fields of 48 athletes in every event and cut them down to 12 who advance to the NCAA final site, that being Austin, Texas from June 5-8. The East Prelims go through the same process this weekend, making for fields of 24 athletes in each event in Austin.

The first Husky to punch her ticket to Austin has waited the longest for her first trip. Fifth-year senior Onyie Chibuogwu, the school record-holder in the hammer throw, delivered one of her best days to extend her career to her first NCAA Championship. Chibuogwu bounced back from a tough Pac-12 Championships; on her very first throw she tossed 206-5 which put her up into fourth-place and she would only ever drop one spot down to fifth. Chibuogwu also had a throw of 203-1 on her second attempt.

"It feels pretty cool," Chibuogwu said. "I've just got to give props to Coach Ninow because after conference it was really hard how it went. And it's good having a coach who believes in you despite the ups and downs. We just went in every practice and took three warm-up throws, then three qualifying throws and replicated what I did here. Tried to go through every scenario. So today just felt routine almost. The first throw got it done.

Chibuogwu will be the first female Husky thrower at the NCAA Championships since 2009 when Elisa Bryant made the hammer throw and Brooke Pighin qualified in the javelin.

"After I didn't make it junior year (in 2017) it was really heartbreaking, so I feel like I've personally put in a lot of work and a lot of teammates and coaches have helped me a lot to get to this moment," Chibuogwu said.

Junior Chase Smith's first bid to NCAA Outdoors will be long remembered, as Smith's season was on the line not once but twice. After a first-attempt make at 17-feet, 1-inch to start off his day, Smith missed twice at 17-5 before a third-attempt clearance that kept him in the mix. Thirteen vaulters were left going to 17-7, with Smith ranking 12th based on makes and misses. A make from the 13th-place vaulter bumped Smith down to 13th-place and he once again had two misses at 17-7. At that point he knew a make would get him in, and a miss would end his season, and Smith came through in the clutch.

It will be the first trip to NCAA Outdoors for Smith, who has twice been to the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2017 and 2018. Smith said of his dramatic day: "Just another day in paradise, a stressful third-attempt paradise."

The first Husky to reach Austin on the track was Pac-12 Champion Izzi Batt-Doyle who cruised to a third-place finish in the 10,000-meter semifinals in 33:40.80. Batt-Doyle will run the 10k at NCAAs for the second time, after she was 12th back in 2017. Also in the 10k, junior Kaitlyn Neal earned a top-20 finish for the second straight year as she was 19th in 34:24.97.

The first event on the track could not have gone better as all three Huskies in the women's 400-meter hurdles auto advanced on to Friday's quarterfinals. First up was junior Darhian Mills in heat two, and she ran away with it to win in 58.25 seconds. In the sixth and final heat, Morganne Hill and Carly Lester both came on hard over the final half of the race and they wound up getting the second and third auto advancing spots.

Both Hill and Lester ran significant personal-bests. Hill, who was second, took .51-seconds off her PR with a time of 58.14 to jump to No. 7 in school history. Lester dropped .55-seconds off her PR, running 58.29 for third, which now ties her for No. 9 in school history. The three times were all in the top-eight overall today.

Next up was freshman Cass Elliott in the men's 400m hurdles first round, and he joined the three women advancing to Friday as he took second in his heat in 51.25 seconds.

The 1,500-meter crew kept things rolling after the hurdlers, as all five Huskies advanced, three on the women's side and two on the men's side as the Huskies were 9-for-9 on quarterfinal qualifiers at that point.

On the women's side, Katie Rainsberger set a very fast pace in her heat and came through in third to auto advance in a season-best time of 4:16.34. In the same heat, senior Anna Maxwell was seventh and had to wait to see if her season-best time of 4:19.84 would hold, and it did. Sophomore Allie Schadler then also earned an auto spot as she was fourth in the fourth heat in 4:19.55.

Mick Stanovsek also pushed the pace in his 1,500m heat and he finished in sixth in 3:45.10, just missing the auto spot but his time would easily hold up as the 11th-fastest overall to advance. One Dawg who beat the form chart was sophomore Nate Beamer, who came in seeded 39th but grabbed himself a spot in the quarters with a fifth-place finish in his heat in 3:49.56.

In the sprints, junior Khalil Winfrey was just .02 off his PR in the 100-meter dash first round as he ran 10.54 seconds. Sophomore Evan Mafilas was in his first 400-meter first round and he ran 47.71 seconds. Both Winfrey and Mafilas finished 37th overall. Mafilas will be back tomorrow to run the 200-meters and on Saturday on the 4x400m relay.

In the 800-meters, senior Connor Morello moved on into the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season, as he ran an outdoor season-best of 1:49.72, the 10th-fastest time of the first round. Sophomore Devan Kirk was seventh in his section in 1:50.59 and was unable to move on.

In the women's 800-meters, seniors Hannah Derby and Nicole Goecke were unable to extend their senior seasons. Derby, an indoor All-American on the DMR, ran 2:08.40 which was 27th overall after she came in ranked 42nd. Goecke ran 2:11.64 to finish 46th overall.

Capping the night off on the track was the men's 10k. Redshirt freshman Tibebu Proctor was up front for most of the 25 laps, but fell off the pace with about a mile to go and finished 25th overall in 29:38.44, while junior Andrew Snyder was 43rd in a time of 30:18.11.

The first Husky in action today was one of the best stories of the season. Senior Katherine Taylor could have ended her season back at the Ken Shannon Invite, but she threw a 10-foot PR in the javelin at that meet to earn a spot on the roster for the Pac-12 Championships. Taylor then added five more feet at Pac-12s and took fifth-place, and that got her to her first NCAA Prelims. Today, Taylor came in seeded 36th but finished up at 23rd as she had a best throw of 147-6.

Sam Richmond also had a major improvement over his seeding, as he was a late add in the long jump, seeded last at 48th, but finishing 30th today as he went 23-8 1/4 to cap an impressive season where he scored at both the Pac-12 and MPSF Championships.

NCAA West Preliminary Championships
Day 1 of 3 | May 23, 2019
Sacramento, Calif. | Hornet Stadium

Men's Results
100m, First Round
Heat 6 of 6: 6. Khalil Winfrey, 10.54

400m, First Round
Heat 6 of 6: 7. Evan Mafilas, 47.71

800m, First Round
Heat 3 of 6: 7. Devan Kirk, 1:50.59
Heat 6 of 6: 4. Connor Morello, 1:49.72 (Advances to Quarterfinals)

1,500m, First Round
Heat 2 of 4: 6. Mick Stanovsek, 3:45.10 (Advances to Quarterfinals);
Heat 3 of 4: 5. Nate Beamer, 3:49.56 (Advances to Quarterfinals)

10,000m, Semifinal
25. Tibebu Proctor, 29:38.44; 43. Andrew Snyder, 30:18.11

400m Hurdles, First Round
Heat 6 of 6: 2. Cass Elliott, 51.25 (Advances to Quarterfinals)

Pole Vault
7. Chase Smith, 17-7 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)

Long Jump
30. Sam Richmond, 23-8 1/4.

Women's Results
800m, First Round
Heat 1 of 6: 8. Hannah Derby, 2:08.40
Heat 6 of 6: 8. Nicole Goecke, 2:11.64.

1,500m, First Round
Heat 2 of 4: 3. Katie Rainsberger, 4:16.34 (Advances to Quarterfinals); 7. Anna Maxwell, 4:19.84 (Advances to Quarterfinals)
Heat 4 of 4: 4. Allie Schadler, 4:19.55 (Advances to Quarterfinals).

10,000m, Semifinal
3. Izzi Batt-Doyle, 33:40.80 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships); 19. Kaitlyn Neal, 34:24.97.

400m Hurdles, First Round
Heat 2 of 6: 1. Darhian Mills, 58.25 (Advances to Quarterfinals)
Heat 6 of 6: 2. Morganne Hill, 58.14 (Advances to Quarterfinals); 3. Carly Lester, 58.29 (Advances to Quarterfinals)

Hammer
5. Onyie Chibuogwu, 206-5 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)

Javelin
23. Katherine Taylor, 147-6.