Buffaloes Send 29 Student-Athletes To NCAA West Preliminaries

BOULDER – The University of Colorado track and field program will send 29 student-athletes to the NCAA Track and Field West Preliminaries next Wednesday through Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.
 
The women's squad, fresh off a second-place finish at Pac-12s, will have 16 women competing with 18 total entries, while the men will have 13 men combining for 14 entries.
 
The four Pac-12 Champions, Abby Nichols, Madie Boreman, Micaela DeGenero and Eduardo Herrera, were all eligible to double up at the NCAA Championships but have all elected to focus on one race. Nichols, who was named the Pac-12 Women's Track Athlete of the Year yesterday, will focus on the 5,000-meter run where she is ranked second in the NCAA and ninth in NCAA history. Boreman will focus on the steeplechase, seeking her third All-American finish in the event. DeGenero, the defending NCAA Mile National Champion, will race the 1,500-meter run only and seek the mile/1,500 double, while Herrera has elected to race the 5,000-meter run as well.
 
All of the athletes heading to the Preliminaries will seek a top-12 finish to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championship June 8-11 in Eugene. One athlete competing next weekend already has her ticket punched, Avery McMullen. The heptathlete is heading to Eugene in the heptathlon as one of the top-24 athletes in the NCAA. She also was ranked high enough to compete in three events individually at the Preliminaries, the high jump, the long jump and the 100-meter hurdles. After the original list came out Wednesday, McMullen was the first athlete out in the hurdles, but after Thursday she was in the hurdle race and decided to forego the high jump. She will double in the long jump and the 100-meter hurdles Thursday, both of which have a 5 p.m. MT start time.
 
There are four other athletes doubling up in individual events, all in the 5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run. Emily Covert and India Johnson will go after the distance double for the women while Andrew Kent and Charlie Sweeney will attempt it on the men's side.
 
Five other athletes will double up with an individual event and relay, all competing in the 4x400-meter relay. Aaron McCoy, Garrett Nelson, Abbey Glynn and Emma Pollak will all compete in the 400 hurdles and their respectful 4x4, while Tyler Williams is racing the open 400-meter dash along with the relay. They are joined by Ian Gilmore, Kellen Monestime, Jaida Drame and Grace Jenkins on the relays.
 
There are three other field events being competed in along with McMullen's long jump. Dominique Williams will be the first athlete competing at Preliminaries in the men's hammer throw Wednesday at 9 a.m. MT. He is joined by Noah Bouchard in the men's high jump as the CU men in field events. Kylee Harr and Allie Routledge will both be the women's representatives in the field in the high jump.
 
The rest of the athletes will all compete in one event on the track. In the 10,000-meter run, Austin Vancil, Paxton Smith, Hannah Miniutti and Kaitlyn Barthell will all join the doubling athletes. Gabrielle Orie is joining Boreman in the women's steeplechase while returning All-American Rachel McArthur is joining DeGenero in the 1,500. Noah Hibbard will be the lone male Buff in the 1,500.
 
The Buffs will all face different qualifying scenarios in their events. The field event athletes will all be competing for a top-12 mark, and in the high jump they will only jump until there are 12 remaining athletes. The sprint and hurdle athletes will compete in the 'first round' of 48 athletes and seek a top-3 finish in their heat or one of the six next-fastest times to move on to the 'quarterfinals'. In the 1,500, the three athletes will be in one of four heats and look to finish top-five in their heat or have one of the next four fastest times to advance to the quarterfinals.
 
For the 10,000, one big heat will be run with athletes seeking a top-12 finish. In the 5,000-meter run and 1,500 quarterfinals, two heats will compete with athletes needing a top-five finish or next two fastest times to advance to Eugene. The rest of the sprint races, relay and steeplechase will all compete in three quarterfinal heats needed a top-three finish in their heat or next three fastest times.
 
There are 18 marks in the top-20 heading to the NCAA West Preliminaries for the Buffs. Williams, Kent, Vancil, Herrera and the men's 4x4 all have top-20 marks with Herrera leading the way with the third-best mark in the 5,000. For the women, McMullen, DeGenero, Glynn, Covert, Johnson, Harr, Boreman, Orie, Nichols and the 4x4 all have top-20 marks. Nichols is the highest-ranked athlete in the 5,000 in the West, while DeGenero, Covert, Johnson and Boreman all have top-10 marks. The 4x4s have the men ranked 16th needing around a 3:05.31 to advance, while the women are 18th needing a 3:34.21.
 
All of the events will be live streamed on the SEC Network, available to ESPN+ subscribers.
 
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