Track & field qualifies 31 to NCAA preliminary rounds


Accepted Entry Lists: Men | Women

The NCAA announced its list of accepted entries into the NCAA Preliminary Round sites with 31 members of the Arizona State University track and field program earning berths into the meet that will be held Thursday, May 26, through Saturday, May 28, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. One of two ‘regional’ sites (Bloomington, Ind., is the other), the meet in Eugene will be used to determine the Top 12 individuals and relays from the West that will compete in the NCAA Championship Finals, June 6-8, in Des Moines, Iowa.

While there are no team points scored in Eugene, the goal of the meet is to continue to advance to the next round. Each site will see 48 individuals and 24 relay teams compete next weekend with all events working its way down the Top 12 that will advance to the NCAA finals in Des Moines. Two Sun Devils already have a ticket to Des Moines as both Samantha Henderson and Keia Pinnick have been selected for the women’s heptathlon event and will enter the meet ranked eighth and 10th, respectively.

In Eugene, 17 men and 14 women will represent the Sun Devils, including Jasmine Chaney and Kayla Sanchez, who will compete in four events for the women, and Allante Battle, who is entered in four as well for the men, and Jordan Clarke, the only Sun Devil that has qualified in three individual events. Overall, the women have four individual women (six total events) and both relays that have entry marks ranking them in the Top 12 (where they will have to finish to reach Des Moines) while the men have four men (four individual events) and both relays that enter in the Top 12.

On the women’s side, Chaney is fourth in the 400m hurdles and eighth in the 100m hurdles while also listed as the anchor of the 4x100m relay (10th) and the 4x400m relay (7th). The remaining individuals on the relays include Asia Gooden, Sanchez and Alycia Herring in the 4x100m and Herring, Sanchez and Pinnick in the 4x400m relay. Along with both relays, Sanchez also will compete in the 400m hurdles (10) and the 100m dash (t-19th).

Herring won’t be done with both relays as the rookie is one of four women to qualify for the long jump, where she ranks 15th heading into the meet. In the same event, Christabel Nettey stands fourth; Henderson is tied for 18th and Pinnick is 24th. Two other women have qualified for multiple events, including Anna Jelmini in the discus (first) and shot put (fifth) and Cj Navarro in the hammer (23rd) and discus (31st).

The remaining women in the meet including Alyssa Allison in the 1,500m run; Dominique’ Maloy in the 200m dash; Lindsay Prescott in the 10,000m run; Shaylah Simpson in the pole vault; and Kauren Tarver in the steeplechase.

On the men’s side of things, Battle will compete in the 100m and 200m dashes while also competing in the 4x100m relay with Daniel Auberry, Kelsey Caesar and Ryan Milus and in the 4x400m relay with John Kline, Caeser and William Henry. The relays are ranked ninth and eighth, respectively. Milus also will run in the 100m dash, where he is ranked second while Mason McHenry will be in the 800m run, rounding out the ASU men in the Top 12 of the running events.

Auberry and Caesar will join Clarke as three-event entrants as Auberry will run in the 100m and 200m events and Caesar, who is on both relays, will join Henry in the 400m dash. Clarke, a returning All-American in the shot put from 2010, enters the weekend ranked fifth in the shot put, 13th in the discus and 19th in the hammer. He is the only man in the West to qualify for all three weight events this season, much as his former teammate, Jason Lewis, did one year ago. The final Sun Devil man with a mark in the Top 12 belongs to Bryan McBride, who is tied for ninth in the high jump.

Also competing for the men next weekend will be Nectaly Barbosa in the 1,500m run; Chris Benard in the long jump and triple jump; Ben Engelhardt in the 10,000m run; Nick Happe in the 5,000m run; Marc Peck in the javelin; Corey Phallen in the pole vault; Doug Smith in the 10,000m run; and Darius Terry in the 1,500m run.