Three Men Make Nationals On Prelims Day One

Wednesday, May 24

Sacramento, CA

All Day

University of Washington

NCAA West Preliminaries

May 24, 2023 | Track & Field

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By: UW Athletic Communications

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

ESPN+ Live Streams: Thursday | Friday | Saturday

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

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 – 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
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

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In its first action since winning the Pac-12 Championship ten days earlier, the Husky men's track and field team got right back to work on building its roster for the NCAA Championships. Three Huskies punched their tickets to the NCAA Outdoor final site and seven more men progressed from the first round into the quarterfinals today at NCAA West Prelims at Hornet Stadium.

Day one of the four-day meet focused on the men's events, with the women starting on Thursday before it's back to the men on Friday. All athletes in Sacramento are aiming for the top-12 to move on to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Championships on June 7-10.

While most track events have multiple rounds in the Prelims, field events are one and done, and the Huskies saw qualifying performances from Jayden White in the hammer, Chandler Ault in the javelin, and Jacob Englar in the pole vault. Friday, the men will have eleven more chances to earn spots in Austin.

Often the first to compete, as was the case today, junior Jayden White punched the first ticket from Sacramento on to Austin in the hammer throw. White, who has made every NCAA Championship, indoors or outdoors, thus far in his career, made it six-for-six today. He went into his third and final throw in 12th-place, the final qualifying spot, and nobody remained who could pass him, but White still came up with his best throw of the day, going 227-4 to move up to sixth overall.

Not long after, White got a fellow thrower on the bus to nationals as Chandler Ault qualified for his first outdoor championships. Ault, the Pac-12 runner-up, threw 225-9 on his second attempt which stood up for 10th-place overall. He is the third different Husky to reach NCAAs in the past four outdoor meets, following Roan Allen last year, and Denham Patricelli in 2019.

Redshirt freshman Jack Olsen had the second-best throw of his career, placing 20th overall at 214-2. That was eight spots better than Olsen was seeded going in.

The night wrapped up with a third field event ticket going to Jacob Englar, the Pac-12 pole vault runner-up. Englar was clean over his first two bars at 16-6 ¾ and 17-0 ¾, then he made 17-4 ½ on a second attempt. He was forced to sweat a bit at the end as he missed at 17-8 ½, but the tiebreaker placed him into a two-way tie for 11th-place, and he survived to vault another day, specifically June 7 in Austin.

The Dawgs had five of their infamous eight sub-four milers running the 1,500-meters first round today, including a trio of NCAA finalists from a year ago in Joe Waskom, Luke Houser, and Nathan Green. Those three all easily advanced to the quarterfinals with top-two finishes in their heats; Waskom and Houser ran the two fastest overall times at 3:39.98 and 3:40.42. Joining them on Friday will be Aidan Ryan, who got a time qualifier in 3:42.98. Aaron Ahl was the one Dawg whose season ended, as he tried to take over a slow heat on the bell lap but couldn't hold his late lead and slipped to 10th.

Pac-12 800-meter Champion Sam Ellis didn't leave much to chance in his first round of the 800-meters. Ellis went straight to the lead and held it the whole way until being passed by one runner about 25-meters from the finish. But Ellis was comfortably in second for an auto-qualifier in 1:48.38. He'll race for nationals on Friday.

Washington's trio of top-four Pac-12 scorers in the 400-meter hurdles took the track next. Pac-12 Champ Cass Elliott easily won his heat in a time of 50.40, and Jonathan Birchman was just off his career-best with a time of 50.47 to take second in his heat. They both march on to the quarterfinals. However, Matthew Wilkinson had a tough run, getting off on his timing and finishing in 53.32 to bring his sophomore season to a finish.

Pestin Artis, who gave the Dawgs a major lift in the long jump this year in his first on the squad, wrapped up his season today as he had two matching leaps of 24-2 ¼ which placed him 26th overall today.

Last on the track tonight was Leo Daschbach in the 10,000-meters. Daschbach, who scored in both the Pac-12 10k and the 5k, made big progress in his first championship season on the track. He was seeded just 45th going into the race tonight, but finished 27th overall, completing the 25 laps in 29:11.06.

Thursday, the women get underway with the first field event, the javelin, starting at 1:30 p.m. and the first Huskies on the track going at 6:30 p.m.

Washington Results – NCAA West Preliminaries
Sacramento, Calif. | Hornet Stadium
Day 1 of 4 (Men's Events)

Men's 800m, First Round
Heat 3 of 6: 2. Sam Ellis, 1:48.38Q (advances to quarterfinal)

Men's 1,500m, First Round
Heat 1 of 4: 2. Nathan Green, 3:44.17Q (advances to quarterfinal)
Heat 2 of 4: 10. Aaron Ahl, 3:50.78
Heat 3 of 4: 1. Joe Waskom, 3:39.98Q (advances to quarterfinal); 2. Luke Houser, 3:40.42Q (advances to quarterfinal)
Heat 4 of 4: 8. Aidan Ryan, 3:42.98q (advances to quarterfinal)

Men's 10,000m (top-12 to NCAAs): 27. Leo Daschbach, 29:11.06

Men's 400m Hurdles, First Round
Heat 1 of 6: 7. Matthew Wilkinson, 53.32
Heat 3 of 6: 1. Cass Elliott, 50.40Q (advances to quarterfinal)
Heat 5 of 6: 2. Jonathan Birchman, 50.47Q (advances to quarterfinal)

Men's Pole Vault (top-12 to NCAAs): tie-11. Jacob Englar, 17-4 ½ (ADVANCES TO NCAAS)

Men's Long Jump (top-12 to NCAAs): 26. Prestin Artis, 24-2 ¼

Men's Hammer (top-12 to NCAAs): 6. Jayden White, 227-4 (ADVANCES TO NCAAS)

Men's Javelin (top-12 to NCAAs): 10. Chandler Ault, 225-9 (ADVANCES TO NCAAS); 20. Jack Olsen, 214-2

Huskies Advancing to NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas (through day one)
Chandler Ault, Men's Javelin
Jacob Englar, Men's Pole Vault
Jayden White, Men's Hammer
Ida Eikeng, Women's Heptathlon (advances without Prelim competition)
Ollie Thorner, Men's Decathlon (advances without Prelim competition)