Crouser advances to NCAA Championships

Thursday, May 24

Sacramento, Calif.

TBA

University of Texas

NCAA West Preliminary Rounds

05.25.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Thrower starts NCAA West Prelims strong for Texas

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Texas Track & Field opened the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with senior Haley Crouser advancing through to the NCAA Championships on her performance in the javelin while the women's runners thrived in the first round of competition Thursday night.

Crouser was the first Longhorn to punch her ticket to the NCAA Championships out of the NCAA West Prelims. The back-to-back Big 12 champion will return to her home turf of Oregon to compete in her final collegiate meet after finishing in seventh place in the javelin on Thursday afternoon.

Crouser posted a throw of 51.39 meters (168-7) to advance to the NCAA Championships where she will attempt to also become a back-to-back first team All-American after finishing eighth last year.

On the track, the Longhorns executed well in the first rounds of running events on the women's side. Six of the eight women running prelims for Texas on Thursday night advanced out of the first round and into the quarterfinals on Friday.

The top female performance on the track went to Teahna Daniels as she clocked in at 11.29 seconds to post the No. 5 time of the 100m prelims.

Both Ariel Jones and Mariam Abdul-Rashid moved to the next round in the 400m hurdles. Jones won her heat to get an automatic bid to the quarterfinals. She clocked in at 58.28. Abdul-Rashid finished sixth in her heat but managed to get the final spot based on time, crossing in 58.91 seconds.

In the 400m, it was Zola Golden and Serenity Douglas moving to the next round. Douglas won her heat in 53.28 seconds to automatically move on and Golden was second in her heat in 52.95. Golden's time was No. 9 in the prelims.

The men's team saw a strong showing from Alex Rogers and Sam Worley in the 1,500m. Rogers and Worley benefited from being in the final heat and knowing what time they needed to run if they failed to finish in the top five of their heat to advance automatically.

The team of Rogers and Worley would not need to worry about their qualifying time by finishing second and third in their heat and moving to the next round. They crossed the line together in 3:45.10 and 3:45.11 just behind collegiate record holder Josh Kerr of New Mexico.

Texas also had some strong performances in the field events on Thursday but came up just short of finishing in the top 12 and advancing to the NCAA Championships.

Senior Alan Zapalac finished 15^th in his final appearance as a Longhorn in the hammer throw. He heaved the hammer out to a measurement of 63.65m (208-10) on his first attempt but was unable to improve on his other two throws. His mark was just 9 inches short of placing 12^th and making his first NCAA Championships appearance.

Also finishing 15^th in her event was sophomore Elena Bruckner. She registered a mark of 15.93m (52-3.25) on her first throw and was 7 inches behind 12^th place.

Joining Crouser in the javelin competition was heptathlete Ashtin Zamzow. She posted a throw of 46.40m (152-3) to finish in 20^th place and not qualify for the national championship meet in that event. Zamzow is already headed to Oregon for the NCAA Championships, however, as she qualified in the heptathlon with the No. 19 score in the nation this season. It will be her second appearance at the NCAA meet.

In other field event action for the men, Barrett Poth cleared 5.15m (16-10.75) on his third attempt and finished in 16^th place. If he had been able to clear the next height of 5.25m (17-2.75), he would have qualified for the national championship with only eight vaulters clearing that height.

Georgia Wahl finished in 24^th place in the women's long jump. She will have one more chance to qualify for the national championship meet when she competes in the triple jump on Saturday.

Running for the men on Thursday but not moving to the next round in the West Prelims was Terry Brown Jr. He finished in 34^th place in the 400m.

For the women Mary Beth Hamilton clocked a new personal best time in the 1,500m but she was unable to advance out of the first round. Her time of 4:24.51 was good for 20^th on the day, but she was .25 of advancing based on her time. Alex Cruz finished in 43^rd in the women's 1,500.

Senior Jacob Pickle closed the night for Texas with a cold wind blowing during the 10,000m. He finished 34^th and could not grab a bid to Eugene as the 10k, 5k and steeplechase only have one round of competition at this meet.

Texas picks up back in action on Friday at noon Pacific with the men's discus. Running events start at 4:30 p.m. with a full day for the Longhorns. Texas will have runners in 10 of the 14 running events on Friday and all three field events.

Fans can watch the action live online with FloTrack streaming the meet. Live results also are being provided by FlashResults.com.

2018 NCAA Championships Qualifiers
Haley Crouser: Women's Javelin