Huskies Blow In To Kansas To Start NCAA Run

Published by UW SID on May 25th, 2016

NCAA West Preliminaries
Lawrence, Kansas - May 26-28

Live Video | Live Results | Men's Start Lists | Women's Start Lists

SEATTLE - Coming off the best Pac-12 Championships performance in team history, the Husky track squads now will take on the western half of the nation, as the fight for spots in the NCAA Outdoor Championships starts in Lawrence, Kansas with the West Prelims this Thursday through Saturday, May 26-28. The meet is the last hurdle to clear before athletes can compete for NCAA titles in Eugene, Ore. from June 8-11.

Washington has 37 entries over the three day meet hosted by the University of Kansas at Rock Chalk Park. Just to reach Lawrence, the Husky athletes had to rank in the top-48 in their events in the western half of the NCAA. Through one or two rounds in Kansas, each event will cut down to twelve competitors to go on to Eugene, where they will combine with the twelve advancing athletes from the East Prelims for final fields of twenty-four. East Prelims take place concurrently this week in Jacksonville, Fla.

All field events go from the initial fields of 48 down to 12 in one fell swoop, while the 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000-meters and 10,000-meters all have just one round in Lawrence to cut down to 12. All track races shorter than the steeple will have a first round and a quarterfinal round in Kansas, then semifinals and finals in Eugene.

KUAthletics.com will provide live video coverage starting five minutes before the first track even each day.

Thursday’s first Husky in action will be sophomore Josh Gordon. Gordon scored over 7,100 points in the decathlon this season and finished sixth in the decathlon at Pac-12s, but made the West Prelim field in the open long jump. Sophomore Onyie Chibuogwu will also make her West Prelims debut in the women’s hammer starting at 4:00 pm Central time Thursday.