Nichols Qualifies For NCAA Finals

COLLEGE STATION – Colorado track and field senior Abby Nichols became the first CU woman heading to the NCAA Championships in Eugene in June after finishing ninth in the women's 10,000 here Thursday evening in the second day of the NCAA West Preliminaries.
 
"It's really hot and humid here, nobody is very surprised," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "Everybody was doing the best they could to manage it. It started out a reasonable pace, unlike the men's race last night, this was conservative and careful across the board. Then it wound up, attrition happens. Abby ran a smart race, being careful with a slightly sore leg and being careful of the heat. Through is all you need here, all that matters is top-12. So, very pleased with her and pleased to get her through to Eugene."
 
Nichols sat in 14th in the first 1600 meters, then she and Emily Covert grouped up and were in 19th and 20th working into the 5k mark. They were 13th and 17th, respectfully, at the halfway mark. Nichols stuck with the main pack and moved to 11th out of the 14-woman pack 25 minutes into the race, while Covert was in 19th five seconds back. Nichols held onto the chase pack after the first three went and finished ninth overall in a qualifying spot in 33:52.00.
 
Covert finished the race in 17th at 34:34.22, while Elizabeth Constien and Kaitlyn Barthell finished in 29th and 32nd, respectfully. The heat played a major factor as six women didn't finish the race.
 
The CU women put on a show in the 400 hurdles this evening with Eriana Henderson and Abbey Glynn both qualifying through to the finals in fine positions. Henderson posted the fourth-best mark of the prelims in 57.93 while Glynn ran 58.45 to post the seventh-best qualifying mark. Both finished second in their heat, a feat they will hope to repeat on Saturday to punch their tickets to Eugene.
 
Colorado also put three women through to the finals in the 1,500 as Sage Hurta and Rachel McArthur ran a perfect team race in the fourth heat to take the first two automatic qualifying marks in that heat in 4:19.86 and 4:20.05, respectfully. Micaela Degenero also qualified through in the third heat as she finished second in 4:22.05, good for 18th overall. Annie Hill also ran the 1,500, finishing 35th overall after being a last minute addition as the 48th qualifier. She ran 4:29.84 to finish 35th overall and will turn her attention to the 5,000 on Saturday.
 
"We were hoping for that," said Wetmore on the five finalists. "I think it was reasonable to hope for those three to get through in the 1500 and for Abby and Eriana to get through the hurdles, so now we have to wait 40 hours and do it again."
 
Two freshmen heptathletes also competed in their first NCAA Prelims in individual events as Jada Green threw 48.73 meters (159-10) in the javelin to just barely miss out on the championships as she finished 17th overall. Avery McMullen competed in the long jump, finishing 35th overall with a jump of 5.96 meters (19-6.75). That mark is her farthest-ever wind-legal jump in the event outdoors by two and a half inches.
 
The men close out action tomorrow as Aaron McCoy competes in the men's 400 hurdle finals starting at 6:55 p.m. Closely behind, Eduardo Herrera, John Dressel and Alec Hornecker will compete in the men's 5,000 final then McCoy will join with Ronald Sayles and a combo of Tyler Williams, Ian Gilmore or Kendal Smith to finish out the men's 4x400.
 
All of the action will be live streamed on ESPN+ and the SEC Network plus with live stats available here.