Campbell, Borton Vault To Nationals

Thursday, May 25

Sacramento, CA

All Day

University of Washington

NCAA West Preliminaries

May 25, 2023 | Track & Field

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By: UW Athletic Communications

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

ESPN+ Live Streams: Friday | Saturday

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

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 – Anna Gibson, Sophie O'Sullivan
5:40 pm – Women's Steeplechase – Kayley DeLay
7:05 pm – Women's 800m - Carley Thomas

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Pac-12 co-Champions in the pole vault, Nastassja Campbell and Sara Borton are now co-qualifiers to the National Championships, as the two navigated a tough NCAA West Prelims field to finish in the top-12 and move on to the next site. Three more Huskies reached the quarterfinal round on the track and two UW records were set in the throws as the women saw their first day of action at Hornet Stadium.

Top-12 is the goal to advance from Sacramento on to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Outdoor finals from June 7-10. After three men punched their tickets on Wednesday, Campbell and Borton added to the roster today.

Campbell had as quick and easy a competition as she would have hoped for. She passed the first two bars, coming in at 13-6 ¼, and cleared that on a first attempt, then she made 13-10 on another first try, and that was all it took, as the Texas native will return to her home state.

Borton, who tied with Campbell for the Pac-12 title two weeks ago, had a pivotal moment at 13-6 ¼, as she needed a third and final attempt to clear that bar or her season would have ended there. But she made it, and then had a second-attempt make at 13-10 to secure her spot at nationals. Borton and Campbell were fifth and sixth, respectively, at the NCAA Indoor meet in March and they'll look for more hardware outdoors.

Also in the vault, Ashleigh Helms and Sarah Ferguson each had best clearances of 13-0 ¼, but went out at 13-6 ¼ and would not advance.

The Dawgs had a pair of heat winners in the mid-distances, as Carley Thomas took her heat in the 800-meters and Sophie O'Sullivan won her 1,500-meters heat, with Anna Gibson also auto-advancing in the 1,500m.

O'Sullivan pulled away over the final 200-meters to win her heat in 4:17.66, while Gibson was easily in the top-five of her section to auto-advance in a time of 4:16.82. They will run for a spot in Austin on Saturday.

Sophie O'Sullivan wins the fourth and final First Round heat in 4:17.66 to ?????? ?? ?

She and Anna will move on to Saturday. Madison Heisterman was a couple spots shy in 28th overall.#GoHuskies | ?? ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/drYZH5jw0U
— Washington Track & Field (@UWTrack) May 26, 2023

Thomas is aiming for a second-straight trip to the outdoor finals and she took care of business in the first round, winning in a time of 2:04.88. Marlena Preigh was seventh in the same heat in 2:08.40 and would not advance.

Three more Dawgs had their seasons come to a close in the 1,500-meters opening round today, all running in the third heat. Madison Heisterman was eighth in the heat and 28th overall in 4:20.76. Freshmen Ella Borsheim and Chloe Foerster gained some good experience, Borsheim finishing in 4:25.90 and Foerster in 4:27.88.

Redshirt freshman Kaia Tupu-South had the definition of a bittersweet day. The New Zealand rookie launched the farthest shot put in UW history, a history that includes a former NCAA Champion, going 56-2 ½. That was an inch farther than her own indoor School Record as well. But incredibly, that only tied for 12th overall in the deepest field in Prelims history. And the athlete with the identical best had a better second-best, winning the tiebreak and bumping Tupu-South to 13th overall.

Her mark is the best mark to ever not reach the NCAA Championships.

MaKayla Kelby had two fouls but then came up with a toss of 54-6 ¾ on her third to move up to 17th-place, giving the Huskies two in the Top-20.

The women's javelin also saw another record fall, as Saydi Orange broke the UW Freshman Record and moved up to No. 5 in school history with a final round throw of 162-7. That was good for 20th overall after she came in ranked 30th. Ida Eikeng is already qualified in the heptathlon but looked to add the open javelin, but she will have to live with her seven events as she was 22nd with a throw of 160-7. Tanya Simora, in her first West Prelims meet, was 33rd overall going 149-2.

The final event of the night was the women's 10,000-meters. Naomi Smith fought her way to a 14-second season-best time of 33:29.85 to place 23rd overall. Andrea Markezich was fighting for top-12 qualifying position in the first half of the race, but struggled in the second half and had to settle for 34th overall.

The final day of men's Prelim competition will take place on Friday, with UW hoping to add several more qualifiers to its nationals squad.

Washington Results – NCAA West Preliminaries
Sacramento, Calif. | Hornet Stadium
Day 2 of 4 (Women's Events)

Women's 800m, First Round
Heat 6 of 6: 1. Carley Thomas, 2:04.88Q (advances to quarterfinal); 7. Marlena Preigh, 2:08.40

Women's 1,500m, First Round
Heat 2 of 4: 4. Anna Gibson, 4:16.82Q (advances to quarterfinal)
Heat 3 of 4: 8. Madison Heisterman, 4:20.76; 10. Ella Borsheim, 4:25.90; 11. Chloe Foerster, 4:27.88
Heat 4 of 4: 1. Sophie O'Sullivan, 4:17.66Q (advances to quarterfinal)

Women's 10,000m (top-12 to NCAAs): 23. Naomi Smith, 33:29.85; 34. Andrea Markezich, 33:58.00.

Women's Pole Vault (top-12 to NCAAs): tie-1. Nastassja Campbell, 13-10 (ADVANCES TO NCAAS); 8. Sara Borton, 13-10 (ADVANCES TO NCAAS); 27. Ashleigh Helms, 13-0 ¼; tie-30. Sarah Ferguson, 13-0 ¼.

Women's Shot Put (top-12 to NCAAs): 13. Kaia Tupu-South, 56-2 ½; 17. MaKayla Kelby, 54-6 ¾

Women's Javelin (top-12 to NCAAs): 20. Saydi Orange, 162-7; 22. Ida Eikeng, 160-7; 33. Tanya Simora, 149-2.

Huskies Advancing to NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas (through day two)
Chandler Ault, Men's Javelin
Sara Borton, Women's Pole Vault
Nastassja Campbell, Women's Pole Vault
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)