Ducks, 'Cats highlight day 1 of NCAA track & field preliminaries

It's still early, but several Pac-12 track & field powerhouses made their case for the NCAA championships on the first day of competition in Austin, Texas. Our day 1 recap of the teams who made waves at the NCAA preliminaries:

Oregon's Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd secured their places in their native Eugene after finishing with the two best long jumps in the west region (6.52m and 6.50m, respectively). Trevor Ferguson and Nate Moore also punched their tickets to the championships Thursday, with both achieving personal records in the long jump. The Ducks' Jillian Weir cemented her place by throwing a 67.15m in the hammer throw, her best throw of the season.

Three Arizona Wildcats advanced Thursday to the 2015 NCAA track & field championships in Eugene. With a toss of 183-2 (55.82m) in the men’s discus competition, Arizona's Gerhard de Beer squeaked into the sixth place to earn a berth in Eugene. In the women's long jump, Aleah Hurst qualified for nationals with a personal record of 6.22m. Lastly, Elvin Kibet advanced in the women’s 10K by clocking a time of 34:35.26 and finishing in sixth place.

USC sent two contestants to nationals that we know from the football field. Adoree' Jackson in the long jump (7.82m) and Randall Cunningham in the high jump (2.20m) will head to Eugene later this month to compete for the Trojans.

Two Sun Devils, Michael Ohakwe and Bryan McBride, are headed to nationals after Thursday's competition. McBride's high jump (2.20m) was good enough to tie for first place, while Ohakwe's discus throw came in at 55.02m for a 10th-place finish.

Pierce Murphy of the Buffs is also headed to Eugene. His seventh-place finish in the 10,000 meters was good enough to advance and represent CU at the NCAA national championships.

UCLA senior Bronte Golick clinched the 12th spot in the 10k to punch his ticket to Eugene on Day 1. With a time of 34:50.54, it will be Golick's first trip to the NCAA championships.

Stay with Pac-12 Networks and Pac-12.com for continuing coverage of the 2015 NCAA track & field championships.