NCAA Outdoor Quest Starts With West Prelims

Wednesday, May 24

Sacramento, CA

All Day

University of Washington

NCAA West Preliminaries

May 23, 2023 | Track & Field

By: UW Athletic Communications

THIS WEEK IN HUSKY TRACK & FIELD

NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 24-27 | Sacramento, Calif.

ESPN+ Live Streams: Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

Live Results | Complete Schedule PDF | Men's Start Lists | Women's Start Lists

Wednesday
10 am – Men's Hammer – Jayden White (flight 3)
1:30 pm – Men's Javelin – Jack Olsen (flight 2), Chandler Ault (flight 3)
6 pm – Men's Long Jump – Prestin Artis (flight 2)
6:30 pm – Men's Pole Vault – Jacob Englar
6:30 pm – Men's 1500m – Aaron Ahl, Nathan Green, Luke Houser, Aidan Ryan, Joe Waskom
7:50 pm – Men's 800m – Sam Ellis
8:20 pm – Men's 400m Hurdles – Jonathan Birchman, Cass Elliott, Matthew Wilkinson
9:10 pm – Men's 10,000m – Leo Daschbach

Thursday
1:30 pm – Women's Javelin – Tanya Simora (flight 1), Saydi Orange (flight 2), Ida Eikeng (flight 3)
6 pm – Women's Shot Put – MaKayla Kelby (flight 3), Kaia Tupu-South (flight 3)
6:30 pm – Women's Pole Vault – Sara Borton, Nastassja Campbell, Sarah Ferguson, Ashleigh Helms
6:30 pm – Women's 1500m – Ella Borsheim, Chloe Foerster, Anna Gibson, Madison Heisterman, Sophie O'Sullivan
7:50 pm – Women's 800m – Marlena Preigh, Carley Thomas
9:10 pm – Women's 10,000m – Andrea Markezich, Naomi Smith

Friday
1 pm – Men's Discus – Elijah Mason (flight 3)
5:15 pm – Men's 1500m – Aaron Ahl, Nathan Green, Luke Houser, Aidan Ryan, Joe Waskom
5:40 pm – Men's Steeplechase – Ed Trippas
6 pm – Men's Triple Jump – Tim Luebbert (flight 2)
7:05 pm – Men's 800m – Sam Ellis
7:25 pm – Men's 400m Hurdles – Jonathan Birchman, Cass Elliott, Matthew Wilkinson
8:10 pm – Men's 5,000m – Brian Fay

Saturday
1 pm – Women's Discus – Beatrice Asomaning (flight 1), MaKayla Kelby (flight 1), Kaia Tupu-South (flight 1)
5:15 pm – Women's 1500m – Ella Borsheim, Chloe Foerster, Anna Gibson, Madison Heisterman, Sophie O'Sullivan
5:40 pm – Women's Steeplechase – Kayley DeLay
7:05 pm – Women's 800m - Marlena Preigh, Carley Thomas

SEATTLE – Washington's two Top-20 track teams shift focus this week from conference to qualifying. The NCAA West Preliminary Championships are at hand, with athletes looking to extend their seasons for a couple more weeks and advance out of the Prelims to the NCAA Outdoor Championships final site. To do that, they'll need top-12 finishes this week in Sacramento, where the four-day-long meet runs from Wednesday to Saturday, May 24-27, at Hornet Stadium.

To reach this stage of the season, athletes had to rank in the top-48 in their event among all the teams in the west or east half of the country. Simultaneously this week, the NCAA East Prelims will go in Jacksonville, Fla. Twelve qualifiers in each event from the west and twelve from the east will make it to Austin, Texas where the outdoor championships take place from June 7-10.

For the third time in the past four years, the Huskies have more than forty combined entries to the meet. The 10th-ranked Husky men's team features 19 individuals and 19 entries, and the 18th-ranked women have 20 individuals for 22 entries. Multi-eventers Ida Eikeng and Ollie Thorner automatically advance to NCAAs with their top-24 national marks. Eikeng will still be competing in Sacramento, however, competing in the open javelin.

Washington is coming off its best conference meet in school history, with the men winning their first Pac-12 title ever, and the women finishing a program-best third. The men had a program-record seven individual titles and Andy Powell was named Pac-12 Men's Coach of the Year. Those title-winners and point scorers will now try to give the Dawgs a large pack in Austin.

The West Prelim schedule alternates days between men's and women's events, with the men starting things off on Wednesday, then the women getting going on Thursday. All the track action takes place in the evening, starting at 6 p.m. the first two days and 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Field events start as early as 10 a.m. with the hammers and continue throughout the day.

Every track event in Sacramento from the 100-meters up to the 1,500-meters will have two rounds; a first round that cuts the field from 48 to 24, and a quarterfinal that takes it from 24 down to the qualifying 12. Longer races—the 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000-meters, and 10,000-meters—have just one round in Sacramento.

In the throws and horizontal jumps, all 48 athletes will simply have three attempts each to decide the advancing 12. Vertical jumps will continue to raise the bar until a top-12 is decided.