20 Track & Field Athletes Headed to NCAA West Preliminary Championships

Utah State’s [University] track and field team qualified a school record-tying 20 student-athletes to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, it was announced Thursday [May 19, 2016].

The Aggies will send 13 men and seven women to compete in Lawrence, Kansas, May 26-28 at Rock Chalk Park. The East Preliminaries are being held at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

In order to qualify for the preliminary round, student-athletes must rank in the top 48 regionally of their respective event. For each relay event, the top 24 declared relay teams also qualified. The top 12 from each site will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Finals being held June 8-11 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

In 2009, Utah State sent 20 individuals, including 11 men and nine women, to the NCAA West Regional Championships in Eugene.

The sprinters headline the 2016 selections for the Aggie men as seniors Parker Bluth and Nic Bowens will compete in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. Bluth ranks tied for 10th in the west in the 100m (10.20) and ninth in the 200m (20.59), while Bowens ranks 12th in the 100m (10.21) and 15th in the 200m (20.70).

Senior Cole Lambourne (39th/46.99) qualified in the 400m, while junior AJ Boully is set to race in the 400m hurdles (11th/50.87).

The 4x100m relay team consisting of Bluth, Bowens, sophomore Brady Martin and freshman Chance Parker rank 10th with a time of 39.62. The 4x400m relay team, which includes senior Tanner Hunt, ranks 13th with a time of 3:06.93.

Clay Lambourne qualified in the 800m for the second consecutive season. The sophomore ranks 34th with a time of 1:49.69. Other distance runners headed to Lawrence include junior Colby Wilson in the 3,000m steeplechase (eighth/8:40.73) and sophomore Dillon Maggard in the 1,500m (26th/3:44.04).

Utah State will also be sending three throwers on the men’s side. Senior Kevin Allen ranks 30th in the discus (54.88m/180-01), senior Devin Wright will be competing in the javelin as he ranks 36th (64.12m/210-04) and sophomore David Hirschmann ranks 37th in the shot put with a mark of 17.77m (58-03.75).

On the women’s side, Maci Bingham qualified in two events for the second consecutive season. The senior ranks eighth in the hammer with a school-record mark of 62.33m (204-06) and 42nd in the shot put with a heave of 15.26m (50-00.75).

Junior Mia Estes is headed to Lawrence with a qualifying mark of 49.51m (162-05) in the javelin, which ranks 19th in the west. Fellow javelin thrower Madelyn Sirmon, a freshman, is 29th with a mark of 47.96m (157-04).

Another freshman thrower, Brenn Flint, will compete in the shot put as she ranks 35th with a qualifying mark of 15.50m (50-10.25).

Rounding out the Aggie women qualifiers are senior Jodi Williams in the high jump with a mark of 1.76m (5-09.25), which ranks 25th, junior Tori Parkinson in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:28.48, which ranks 42nd, and freshman Kashley Carter in the 5,000m with a time of 16:23.29, which ranks 37th.

The Aggies recently competed at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships, where the men placed second with 176 points and the women took sixth with 59.50 points.

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