Utah State’s men’s and women’s track and field teams are sending 16 qualifying student-athletes to compete in the first round of the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which take place Thursday through Saturday, May 28-30, in Austin, Texas.
In order to qualify for the first round, student-athletes must rank in the top 48 of their respective event. The top-24 declared relay teams also qualified.
The Aggies are competing in the West Preliminaires, while the East Preliminaires are being held in Jacksonville, Florida. The top 12 from each site advance to the finals, which take place June 10-13, in Eugene, Oregon.
“There are a couple of things that track and field athletes aspire to and one of them is to go to the NCAA meet,” USU head coach Gregg Gensel said. “So for these 16, they’ve reached that goal of being able to say they’re among the elite in the nation and going to the national meet.
“The other things athletes aspire to are winning conference championships, setting personal records and other things like that, but ultimately, everybody wants to excel and be the best.”
On the women’s side, six Aggies head to Austin. Senior Chari Hawkins qualified in three events as she ranks 25th in the 100-meter hurdles (13.50 seconds), 31st in the long jump (6.07m) and 32nd in the high jump (1.76m). Hawkins has already qualified for the finals in the heptathlon.
Maci Bingham qualified in two events, as the junior ranks 14th in the hammer (61.30m) and 44th in the discus (51.29m).
Senior Jodi Williams will also be competing in the high jump as she qualified with a mark of 1.76m, which ranks 38th in the west. Sophomore Tori Parkinson qualified in the 3,000m steeplechase with the 40th-ranked time of 10:31.15, while senior Adela Hofmannova qualified in the 1,500m with a time of 4:24.24, which ranks 38th. Sophomore Mia Estes is also headed to Austin with a qualifying mark of 44.80m in the javelin, which ranks 43rd.
On the men’s side, Utah State’s 4x400m relay team of junior Parker Bluth, junior Tanner Hunt, junior Cole Lambourne and freshman Clay Lambourne qualified with a school-record time of 3:05.28, which is the fourth-fastest time in the west.
Bluth also qualified in the 200m with a school-record time of 20.52, which ranks 11th. Cole Lambourne will also compete in the 400m as he qualified with a time of 46.14 to rank 10th, while his brother, Clay Lambourne, qualified in the 800m with a time of 1:48.80 to rank 21st.
Sophomore Colby Wilson and senior Eric Shellhorn qualified in the 3,000m steeplechase after ranking sixth (8:45.71) and 29th (8:55.20), respectively. Sophomore Brett McAdams and freshman Jordan Beutler join Clay Lambourne in the 800m field as the duo ranks 33rd (1:49.65) and 37th (1:49.91), respectively.
Two throwers also qualified for Utah State. Junior Kevin Allen will compete in the discus as he ranks 34th (54.76m), while sophomore Devin Wright will compete in the javelin as he ranks 37th (63.22m).
“One of the nice things about track and field is you can be your best without winning, but you can also go to the national meet without having to win your event,” Gensel said. “It’s all about the head-to-head competition from here on out. If they go to this first round of the NCAAs, it’s just like in the basketball tournament where if they get beat they’re out. If they’re not in the top 12, they’re out.
“It’s a hard process. It’s pretty intense when you get to the meet and kids usually try to put pressure on themselves, but the thing I’ve always tried to teach my athletes is that if you do what you did to get to the meet, you usually have success. Everybody that’s going is very well prepared and able to do some good things. Others who are ranked higher probably have greater expectations, but I’ve seen people that are ranked lower who get to go to the finals because they have the meet of their lives. That’s what you want to do, is have a great meet and whatever happens, happens.”
Doug Hoffman is the associate athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.