Cal Heads To NCAA West Preliminary
BERKELEY – Championship season is back in action for the Bears.
California track & field opens the NCAA preliminary round of the postseason with a squad of 18 student-athletes set to compete at the NCAA West Regional May 26-29 in College Station, Texas.
The Golden Bears will have 11 women and seven men competing at E.B Cushing Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M.
The top 48 declared student-athletes in each individual event—24 for relays—are competing for a top-12 finish to secure a trip to the NCAA Championships (June 9-12) at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The NCAA East Preliminary will be held simultaneously in Jacksonville, Florida.
Mirroring the national meet, the NCAA Preliminary is held over four days with alternating men's and women's programs. The men will compete Wednesday and Friday with the women in action Thursday and Saturday.
Field events begin at 11:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday with the men's hammer throw as Ivar Moisander will open competition for California. Josh Johnson and Jeff Duensing follow in the men's shot put with the event starting at 4 p.m. PT. Johnson will be joined by Iffy Joyner in the men's discus throw as athletes enter the cage at 11:30 a.m. PT on Friday.
Running events start Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. PT with Garrett MacQuiddy in the men's 1,500-meter first round, followed by Henry Larkin running the opening round of the men's 400-meters at 5:25 p.m. PT. Men's first round action on the track finishes with MacQuiddy and Moises Medrano in the men's 800-meters at 5:50 p.m. PT.
Camryn Rogers is set to start defending her 2019 NCAA title in the women's hammer throw at 11:30 a.m. PT on Thursday along with teammates Anna Purchase and Jasmine Blair. Rogers is the school record holder and currently leads the NCAA, boasting a personal best mark of 73.09 meters (239-9) to pass the Olympic standard which she set on April 17 at the West Coast Classic. Purchase enters with the 13th-best mark in the country at 66.52 meters (218-3).
Deshae Wise opens action on the track for the women in Blue and Gold at 4 p.m. PT Thursday in the women's 100-meter hurdle opening round after finishing fourth at the Pac-12 Championships with a time of 13.26. She set a new personal best of 13.15 earlier this season, the second-fastest time in California track & field history.
Annie Boos starts her two-event NCAA regional in the women's 1,500-meter first round at 4:30 p.m. PT Thursday and the Cal school record holder in the 3,000-meter steeplechase competes in her second event at 4:10 p.m. PT on Saturday, trying to secure her bid to nationals in the steeple.
Women's sprints open at 5 p.m. on Thursday with a pair of Cal runners, Ezinne Abba and Maisie Stevens, in the 100-meter dash first round. Abba is set to pull the dual on Thursday as she's entered in the women's 200-meter dash starting at 6:45 p.m. PT.
Saturday gets underway for Cal at 11 a.m. PT as Hawa Wague looks to qualify for nationals in the women's high jump competition, followed by Blair and Krissy Smoot in the women's discus throw at 11:30 a.m. PT.
Asha Fletcher takes flight in the women's triple jump at 1:15 p.m. PT on Saturday and the Cal 4x100-meter relay team of Abba, Wise, Stevens and Sonia Redon try to sprint their way to a spot in Eugene at 3:30 p.m. PT.
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