Field Heat Sheets (Friday)  |  Track Heat Sheets (Friday)

Live Results  |  Schedule of Events (Friday)

Long Beach State freshman Willie Alexander and UC Riverside junior Ted Hooper qualified for nationals to highlight day one of the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas Wednesday.
 
Both athletes finished in the top 12 of the long jump to punch their tickets to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 5-8, 2013.
 
Hooper finished fifth overall as he cleared 25-06.75 on his first jump of the competition.  Alexander obliterated his personal-best to become the 12th and final qualifier to the NCAA meet.  A mark of 24-11.25 bested his previous top mark of 24-07.25 that he set at the Big West Championships two weeks ago.  Alexander, the Big West Freshman Track Athlete of the Year, has rapidly climbed the charts in the event as his PR prior to the conference championship meet was 23-6.

Hooper and Alexander were the lone field athletes to move on to nationals, but several track athletes advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective events.  In most events, the top 3 finishers from each heat plus the next 6 fastest times advanced to the quarterfinal round.

UC Santa Barbara senior Amanda Rodriguez was the first to advance as she posted a 58.58 in the women’s 400 hurdles to finish third in her heat and 14th overall.  Cal Poly junior David Namnath pushed through in the men’s 400 hurdles as he placed fourth in his heat and 19th overall with a 51.74 showing.

The women’s 1500 run saw three Big West athletes qualify for the next round with UC Riverside senior Damajeria Dubose automatically doing so by finishing in the top five in her heat.  Her time of 4:20.97 was good for fifth in Heat 1 and 17th overall.  UC Davis sophomore Raquel Lambdin (4:23.11) and Long Beach State junior Meghan Foley (4:29.30) placed fourth and fifth in their heats, respectively.

UC Davis teammates Ashley Marshall and Melanise Chapman moved one step closer to the NCAA Championships with qualifying performances in the women’s 100.  Marshall, the Big West Women’s Track Athlete of the Year, finished third in her heat in 11.45 while Chapman’s 11.59 in the same heat also put her through to the quarterfinals.

One of the more impressive performances came from Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year and Cal State Northridge junior Carl Horsley.  Horsley clocked a lifetime-best 10.23 in the 100 meters to capture second place in his heat and eighth overall.  Horsley ran a previous lifetime-best 10.46 to win the conference championship two weeks ago.

Three additional Big West athletes kept their seasons going with quarterfinal-worthy efforts.  UC Santa Barbara senior Jennifer Carey notched a 53.17 in the 400 meters for second place in her heat.  She was 10th among 24 competitors overall.

Lauren Wallace, the No. 2 qualifier in the West Region with a time of 2:03.39 in the women’s 800 meters, did not hit that mark during Thursday’s action but advanced to the quarters.  She ran a 2:08.47 to win her heat by .14 seconds.

Long Beach State senior Gabe Hilbert clocked a 1:49.96 in the men’s version of the 800, good for fifth in his heat and one of the six fastest times not within the top three of a heat.

Action continues on Friday at Mike A. Myers Stadium with a full slate of events.  The field events begin at 10:00 a.m. (PDT) with three Big West women’s athletes – Cal State Northridge’s Monique Griffiths, UC Santa Barbara’s Irene Kujore, and UC Irvine’s Itos Aikhionbare – in the discus.  The first running event is the women’s 100 hurdles at 3:00 p.m. (PDT) with UC Davis senior Kayla Carter on the track.