The Big West set out for the first day of competition at the NCAA Division I Track and Field West Regionals Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas on Thursday advancing a total three to the NCAA Nationals and 10 to the next round in Regional contest.

In the six field and 12 track events taken place on the first day of Regional action, seven of the eight institutes continued through with UC Riverside leading the field advancing a total three athletes to the next round and one guaranteed spot at Nationals.

Leading the field events was Big West two-time champion, Ben Woodruff of Long Beach State taking the seventh top mark of the day in men’s javelin at 66.13m. UC Riverside's Travis Smith scored a 48.48m in the men's shot put to advance to nationals in the eleventh spot at Regional play.

With a Big West Championship meet record, Sarah Sumpter continued her flawless pace at Regionals placing twelfth with a 34:24.87 time in the women's 10,000-meter to advance to the NCAA Finals.

On the track the Big West took three top finishes in two events, the men’s 800-meter run and the men’s 400-meter hurdles to continue on to compete for a spot at the National Championships.  The Big West rival duo led the 800-meter as Irvine’s Charles Jock and Santa Barbara’s Ryan Martin took third and fourth overall, with Gaucho Justine Diaz qualifying in the women's fleet.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Long Beach State’s Chris Lawson took tenth, accompanied with UC Irvine’s Jacob Yowell grabbing thirteenth and Eric Surprenant of Cal Poly right behind in fourteenth.

The West Regional competition will continue Friday, May 25 with the five field events and 14 track races returning to Mike A. Myers Stadium for action at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

The top 12 finishers in each event advance to the national championships in Des Moines, Iowa (June 6-9).