Huskies Rack Up Six More Qualifiers At West Prelims

Friday, May 24

Sacramento, CA

12:00 PM

University of Washington

NCAA West Preliminaries

May 24, 2019 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

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

Event Schedule | Saturday Start Lists

Flotrack Live Stream | Live Results

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – One of the most productive days for the Dawgs in years at the West Prelim Championships saw six more Huskies join the roster for Austin, bringing the total to ten through two of the three days at Hornet Stadium. The Huskies spread the wealth around the event groups with one qualifier apiece coming from the distance runners, sprinters, vaulters, and then three from the throwers.

The first to advance was senior Denham Patricelli in the javelin. He was then joined by a pair of second-year Dawgs in Elijah Mason and Jonah Wilson who both made the 12-man cut in the discus. As the discus was wrapping up, senior Olivia Gruver used a clutch third-attempt make to clear the West Prelim hurdle in the pole vault and earn a chance to defend her NCAA title.

On the track, junior Darhian Mills had perhaps the best performance out of many excellent ones from which to choose, as she broke a 24-year-old school record in the 400-meter hurdles to book her first ticket to NCAAs. Rounding out Friday's qualifiers was senior Emily Hamlin, who cut a big chunk off her personal-best in the steeplechase to advance out of Sacramento for the second straight season.

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.

Much like fellow fifth-year teammate Onyie Chibuogwu in the women's hammer on Thursday, Denham Patricelli got the NCAA ticket he has long been working for this afternoon. The fifth-year senior has been on the best run of his career over the past month, starting with a breakthrough PR at the National Relays and continuing with a runner-up finish at Pac-12s two weeks back. He kept it rolling on his very first attempt, going 239-3 to take the lead and easily lock up a top-12 position.

Only one thrower would go farther than Patricelli's opener, as he finished second overall. His second and third throws also went 227-8 and 235-9, either one of which also would have been a top-12 qualifier. Patricelli will be the first Husky javelin thrower at NCAAs since 2016.

113352 — **Denham Patricelli needed just one throw to clinch his first ever trip to NCAAs.**

In the men's discus throw, Elijah Mason came in as one of the top seeds but had to deliver in the pressure of just three attempts, while Jonah Wilson was seeded 20th and in the second of the three flights and looking to surprise. Wilson came out ready to roll, as he went 181-1 on his first attempt. That put the sophomore in second-place after two of the three flights with the top 16 throwers still to go.

Mason, the Pac-12 Champion, was in that top-16, and he also came out sharp, firing 188-5 on his first attempt to go into the lead. When the final discus landed at the end of the third flight, Mason's mark was good for fifth-place overall, but the nervous waiting game had worked out for Wilson, who got the 12th and final spot to Austin.

Mason and Wilson will be the first Huskies at NCAAs in the discus since 2006.

The women's 400-meter hurdles quarterfinals saw the Husky trio of Darhian Mills, Carly Lester, and Morganne Hill all grouped together into the third of three heats, all looking for their first trip to NCAAs and coming off excellent runs on Thursday.

From the gun, Mills kept pace with Pac-12 Champion Anna Cockrell of USC. Mills was able to stay right on Cockrell's shoulder throughout, and while the Trojan got the win, Mills was just a split second behind in second to earn the automatic qualifying spot. Along with that came a huge PR of .67 seconds, and the new school record, as Mills broke the longstanding record of 57.13 set by Terra Barter back in 1995.

Lester and Hill finished fifth and sixth in the same heat, with Lester running 58.47 and Hill going 58.60. Both those times were the second-fastest of each of their careers, but would fall just short of advancing to Nationals. Lester wound up 15th overall and Hill 16th, as the Huskies were the only team with three in the top-20.

Defending NCAA Champion Olivia Gruver's road back to the final site had a bit more drama than she would have liked, but that's life in the pole vault. Gruver passed at the first three bars and then had no trouble coming in and clearing 13-8 1/4 on one attempt. But she then had two misses at 14-feet, and one more miss would have ended her chances at a three-peat far too soon. Gruver came through in the clutch with the clearance, and then added a first-attempt make at 14-2 to fully secure her trip to Texas.

Junior Annika Dayton had a strong series as well, but came up a couple bars short. She was perfect over the first three heights but went out attempting 13-8 1/4 to end up in a tie for 22nd.

113353 — **Olivia Gruver earned a chance to defend her NCAA title by making 14-2 today in the pole vault**

Hamlin was the last Dawg to punch her ticket tonight, as she duplicated her breakthrough effort in the steeplechase from one year ago on the same track. Last year Hamlin ran a huge 20 second PR at West Prelims to reach her first NCAAs in surprise fashion. This year the Pac-12 runner-up wouldn't take anyone by surprise, and she took care of business this time around and set a new PR for the first time this year, breaking the 10-minute mark for the first time in a big way with a time of 9:53.11.

That improves on her No. 3 time in school history. Redshirt freshman Shona McCulloch went for it early in her steeplechase heat but ran out of gas and wound up 33rd overall in a time of 10:24.58.

In the men's steeplechase, the Huskies came agonizingly close to adding two more to Nationals. In the second of the three heats, freshman Alex Slenning ran the race of his young career, dropping 10 seconds off his PR to take fourth in 8:43.23, taking fourth to just miss the auto advancing spot by one place. But the big PR did make some history, as it broke a UW freshman record that had stood since 1976, erasing the 8:44.4 time set by Gary Gustafson. Slenning also goes to No. 9 overall in school history.

Then in the next heat, Julius Diehr also put himself in contention for the top-three. Diehr would run a six-second PR of 8:46.48 but he too came up just one place short of Austin, getting another fourth-place finish. Sophomore Nick Laccinole ran well to take seventh in the same heat as Diehr in a time of 8:55.58.

Freshman Cass Elliott ran 51.20 today in the quarterfinals of the men's 400-meter hurdles to come up just a handful of spots shy of earning a trip to Nationals. Elliott was fifth in his heat and wound up 16th overall, an excellent capper for his freshman campaign, though he will run the 4x400m relay tomorrow as well.

In earlier flights of the javelin, sophomore Jacob Wachtendonk finished 34th today in his second Prelims appearance, throwing a best of 197-1, and freshman Zach Annanie was 37th, ten places higher than his seeding, with a mark of 194-4.

Redshirt freshman Ginny Mehl finished a few spots better than her entry seed in the women's discus, as she had a best throw of 161-2 to finish 32nd overall after coming in ranked 36th.

The first Husky on the track was sophomore Hannah Rusnak in the 100m hurdles. Rusnak ran a time of 13.89 seconds which would not advance, but it works as a tune-up for her next hurdles race, which will be the first event of the heptathlon at NCAAs in Austin.

Senior Connor Morello gave his all in his final 800-meter race as a Dawg, running in the quarterfinals today for the second straight year. Morello was sixth in an outdoor season-best time of 1:49.68 and would wind up in 17th-place overall, a career-best but not quite enough to extend his senior season.

In the first round of the 200-meters, sophomores Evan Mafilas and Kemuel Santana represented the Dawgs. Santana was fifth in his heat in a time of 21.10, placing him 32nd overall in the field, an improvement of eight spots on his seeding, while Mafilas ran 21.28 to finish 37th, exactly where he was seeded going in.

The Huskies conclude the West Prelims on Saturday with 10 more entries. Jonah Wilson will try for a second qualifier in the shot put, Angel Nkwonta throws the shot put for the women. Racing starts for UW at 6:30 with the 1,500m quarterfinals featuring Anna Maxwell, Katie Rainsberger, Allie Schadler, Nate Beamer, and Mick Stanovsek. Fred Huxham is entered in the 5k and the men's 4x4 will round things out.

NCAA West Preliminary Championships
Day 2 of 3 | May 24, 2019
Sacramento, Calif. | Hornet Stadium

Men's Results
200m, First Round
Heat 4 of 6: 8. Evan Mafilas, 21.28
Heat 6 of 6: 5. Kemuel Santana, 21.10

800m, Quarterfinals
Heat 1 of 3: 6. Connor Morello, 1:49.68

400m Hurdles, Quarterfinals
Heat 1 of 3: 5. Cass Elliott, 51.20

3,000m Steeplechase, Quarterfinals
Heat 2 of 3: 4. Alex Slenning, 8:43.23
Heat 3 of 3: 4. Julius Diehr, 8:46.48; 7. Nick Laccinole, 8:55.58

Discus
5. Elijah Mason, 188-5 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)
12. Jonah Wilson, 181-1 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)

Javelin
2. Denham Patricelli, 239-3 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)
34. Jacob Wachtendonk, 197-1
37. Zach Annanie, 194-4

Women's Results

100m Hurdles, First Round
Heat 2 of 6: 7. Hannah Rusnak, 13.89

400m Hurdles, Quarterfinals
Heat 3 of 3: 2. Darhian Mills, 57.02 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships); 5. Carly Lester, 58.47; 6. Morganne Hill, 58.60

3,000m Steeplechase, Quarterfinals
Heat 1 of 3: 12. Shona McCulloch, 10:24.38
Heat 3 of 3: 3. Emily Hamlin, 9:53.11 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)

Pole Vault
2. Olivia Gruver, 14-2 (Advances to NCAA Outdoor Championships)
22 (tie). Annika Dayton, 13-4 1/4

Discus
32. Ginny Mehl, 161-2

2019 UW NCAA Outdoor Championship Qualifiers

Day 2
Olivia Gruver, Women's Pole Vault
Emily Hamlin, Women's Steeplechase
Darhian Mills, Women's 400m Hurdles
Elijah Mason, Men's Discus
Denham Patricelli, Men's Javelin
Jonah Wilson, Men's Discus

Day 1
Izzi Batt-Doyle, Women's 10,000m
Onyie Chibuogwu, Women's Hammer Throw
Chase Smith, Men's Pole Vault

Based on regular season score
Hannah Rusnak, Heptathlon