Buffs Head To NCAA West Preliminaries
BOULDER- The University of Colorado track and field team will send 17 athletes to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Championship May 26-28 in Eugene, Ore.
The CU men are sending nine individuals, while the women are sending eight to the meet at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. Live results are available at flashresults.com and a live stream of the championship will be available at goducks.com.
Brian Owens (javelin) and Joi Windham (400-meter hurdles) are the first two Buffs to compete on Thursday. The first flight of the javelin and the first round of the 400 hurdles will start at 4:30 p.m. MT. The finals for the javelin will follow the three flights on Thursday, while the quarterfinals for the 400 hurdles will be on Friday at 5:20 p.m. Owens currently ranks 23rd in the region with a toss of 221 feet, while Windham is 46th (1:00.34).
Staci Foster will be the second Buff on the track, running in the first round of the 1,500-meter run at 5:20 p.m. on Friday. She is 48th in the region after running a time of 4:28.48 at the conference meet. The quarterfinals for the 1,500 are set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Joe Morris will compete in a pair of events for CU, starting with the first round of the 100-meter dash at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The quarterfinals for the 100 are at 5:35 p.m. on Friday. Morris will also race in the 200, starting with the first round at 7:10 p.m. on Friday. Quarterfinals follow on Saturday at 3:50 p.m. He currently ranks 18th in the 100 (10.40) and 24th in the 200 (20.97).
Liz Tremblay and Steve Kasica will represent the Buffs in the 800 on Thursday and Friday. Tremblay, who ranks 18th in the region (2:06.59) will run in the first round at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, with the quarterfinals following on Friday at 5:50 p.m. Kasica ranks 44th and will compete in the first round at 7:50 p.m. on Thursday. The men's quarterfinal is set to start at 6:05 p.m. on Friday.
The final events for the day on Thursday are the men's and women's 10,000-meter runs. Laura Thweatt and Camille Logan will run in the semi-final at 8:10 p.m. Thweatt has the 16th best time in the west (33:49.00) and Logan is 27th (34:27.12). A pair of CU men will run in the semi-final after the women at 8:50 p.m. Joe Bosshard, who was an All-American in the event a year ago, is currently ninth in the region (28:52.85). Andy Wacker has the 15th best time in the region (29:10.89).
Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp will race in the women's steeplechase on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Coburn owns the fastest time by an American this season (9:40.51) and Kipp ranks third in the region (10:03.37). Both were All-Americans in the 2010 season in the steeplechase with Coburn placing second and Kipp taking fifth overall. Aric Van Halen will also compete in the men's steeplechase on Friday at 8:20 p.m. His personal record of 8:52.53 is the 17th fastest in the west region.
Saturday, the final day of the championship, will see Dane Chobanian competing in the discus throw. The first flight will start at 4:30 p.m. He is 36th overall in the region with a throw of 175-02.
The men's and women's 5,000-meter runs will be the final events of the championship for Colorado and the Buffs are hoping to do quite well. The women's race is at 4:05 p.m. and will feature three Buffs. Thweatt and Logan will race again after running in the 10k on Thursday night. Thweatt has the eighth best time in the region at 15:57.24 and Logan ranks 17th (16:15.19). Katie Cumming rounds out the trio and is 15th (16:10.85).
CU has four men ranked in the top 17 of the 5k, which will run at 4:45 p.m. Bosshard and Wacker are the top two, ranking sixth and 12th, respectively. Both will run again after competing in the 10k on Thursday. Bosshard's best time this year is 13:34.57 and Wacker's is 13:41.49. Matt Tebo and Richard Medina will also run for the Buffs. Tebo is 14th overall (13:44.03) and Medina is 17th (13:44.34). Medina was an All-American in the 5k in 2010.
The NCAA Preliminaries are the first step to quality athletes for the NCAA Championship June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa. There are two championship preliminaries (west and east) this weekend.