Rams Depart for NCAA West Regionals

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The Colorado State Track and Field program will be seeking top marks to earn trips to Eugene this weekend when it heads to Fayetteville, Ark. for the NCAA West Prelims held at John McDonnell Field on the campus of University of Arkansas.

Twenty-six Rams will be competing in 28 individual events, while another five Rams are needed to fill the three relay teams. The four-day regional event alternates days by gender starting with the men on Wednesday, May 25^th, and concluding with the women on Saturday, May 28^th.

The top 48 competitors in each event from the NCAA West regional will vie to place in the top 12 and earn a berth to the NCAA Championships on June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore. One exception is the multis (heptathlon/decathlon) as the nation's top 24 will skip the regional meet and earn a bid to the NCAAs. Already securing her spot at nationals in the women's heptathlon is Lexie Keller with the country's eight-best mark.

Of the 26 Rams headed to join Keller in an individual event, there are 12 men with one – Jackson Morris – competing in two events, the discus and javelin throws. That leaves 14 women making the trip with also one thrower doubling as Gabi McDonald is entered in the shot put and discus. CSU's top qualifier is Lauren Gale who has the seventh seed in the 400-meter race, while Jacob Brueckman follows as the next top qualifier with the 12^th-seed in the men's 800. The women have six other top-20 marks headed into the week, while the men have one other.

Both the women's 4x100 and 4x400m relays made the cut at 13^th out of 24 and will race on Saturday to start and conclude the track events, respectively. The men's 4x4 garnered the last spot and will close Friday's action on the track.

There are no finals, just first and/or quarterfinal/semifinal rounds to set qualifying at the national meet. In the field events, there are three attempts at each discipline. There is only one qualifying event on the track in the first two days, which is the 10,000 meters for both genders. In field events, qualifiers will be determined in the hammer, the javelin, long jump, shot put and pole vault in the gender day one's, while Friday and Saturday feature the discus, high jump and triple jump.

NCAA West Qualifiers

MEN
Tom Willems: 400m – 28^th
Ryan Birkmeier: 800m – 32^nd
Dawson LaRance: 800m – 46^th
Jacob Brueckman: 1500m – 12^th
Andrew Doctor: 110m Hurdles – 35^th
Dawson Besst: 3000m Steeplechase – 28^th
Thomas Chaston: 3000m Steeplechase – 31^st
Eldridge Harris: Pole Vault – 36^th
Allam Bushara: Triple Jump – 43^rd
Mariano Kis: Shot Put – 45^th
Adam Dawson: Discus – 23^rd
Jackson Morris: Discus – 27^th
Jackson Morris: Javelin – 14^th
John Fulton, DeVon Washington, Jack Cauble, Tom Willems: 4x400m Relay Team – 24^th

WOMEN
Janyah Jasper: 100m – 36^th
Lauren Gale: 400m – 7^th
Jessica Ozoude: 400m – 34^th
Lauren Offerman: 5000m – 17^th
Ashlyn Hillyard: 5000m – 27^th
Anna Petr: 5000m – 45^th
Annabel Stafford: 10000m – 14^th
Sarah Carter: 10000m – 23^rd
Lily Tomasula-Martin: 10000m – 37^th
Yolonda Johnson: 400m Hurdles – 19^th
Emily Chaston: 3000m Steeplechase – 22^nd
Celyn Stermer: Pole Vault – 40^th
Gabi McDonald: Shot Put – 19^th
Gabi McDonald: Discus – 15^th
Michaela Hawkins: Discus – 17^th
Jessica Ozoude, Lauren Gale, Makayla Williams, Janyah Jasper: 4x100m Relay Team – 13^th
Yolonda Johnson, Grace Goldsworthy, Jessica Ozoude, Lauren Gale: 4x400m Relay Team – 13^th

How to Follow
Live Results - https://csura.ms/3sTBSU3
NCAA West Regional Headquarters - https://csura.ms/3NzS5pu
Live Stream (ESPN) Day 1 - https://csura.ms/3PIPrzl
Live Stream (ESPN) Day 2 - https://csura.ms/3sUSvP5
Live Stream (ESPN) Day 3 - https://csura.ms/3NoTJKq
Live Stream (ESPN) Day 4 - https://csura.ms/38eW8s5

NCAA West Notes
NCAA Regionals started in 2003.

Gabi McDonald's Double (Shot Put + Discus)
Twenty-one student-athletes are competing in both the women's shot put and discus. Seven of the 21 are ranked in the top 20 for both, including CSU's Gabi McDonald. Five of the seven come from Power 5 conference, while McDonald and Annina Brandenburg of Abilene Christian represent the non-power five. McDonald competed in both at last year's regional, finishing 33^rd in shot put and 34^th in discus. CSU has never had a student-athlete advance to nationals in both the shot put and discus on either the men or women's side. With Michaela Hawkins also in the discus field, CSU extends its streak to four regionals that at least two women have been in the discus field. There has been a CSU women's discus thrower in every regional since its inception in 2003.

Jackson Morris' Double (Javelin + Discus) And Dawson's Return
To the contrary of the last note, Jackson Morris is the only student-athlete that will be doubling the men's javelin and discus. CSU has never advanced a javelin thrower in either gender to the NCAA Championships. Morris threw both in 2019, placing 19^th in the javelin and 42^nd in the discus. Making his third regional discus appearance, Adam Dawson looks to go 3-for-3 in advancing to the NCAA Championships. In 2019, Dawson went 11^th at NCAA West and 17^th at the NCAA Championships, while last year it was eighth and 12^th respectively.

Lauren Gale (400 + Relays)
The reigning NCAA Indoor All-American is aiming to punch a ticket to her second trip to the NCAAs this year for the 400. In March, she finished eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Last year, Gale finished one spot short of qualifying, placing 13^th in one of the fastest 400m races in college history as the winner set a college record only to get beat at nationals too. Gale is aiming to become CSU's first 400m runner at nationals and that counts for both genders. In 2019, Gale was also on the 4x1 and 4x4 relays teams, finishing 10^th and 20^th, respectively. Jessica Ozoude was also on both those relay teams and will be running in the same this week. Gale had the 11^th-best 200m time in the west as well, but will just be focusing on the 400 and relays.

Willems Back in the 400m
For the second year in a row, Tom Willems advanced to regionals in the 400m. Last year, he finished 40^th in prelims with a time of 47.88. He heads into this week's regional with the 28^th-best time of 46.14, which he obtained at conference that is second all-time at CSU.

5K Gals
Colorado State is one of six schools with at least three women in the 5,000m. Five of those teams, including CSU, are in the USTFCCCA Mountain Region. This is the first time CSU has had three Rams in the women's 5,000m. Lauren Offerman placed 38^th in last year's NCAA West Prelims. Offerman leads the CSU trio with the 17^th seed. Ashton Hillyard and Anna Petr are making their outdoor regional debut.

10K Gals
Similarly, Colorado State is one of six schools with at least three women in the 10,000m. Again, five of those teams, including CSU, are in the USTFCCCA Mountain Region. This marks the second time in CSU history that the Rams will have three in the women's 10,000m, joining the 2012 threesome of Hannah Pensack-Rinehart (18^th), Sarah Heuer (40^th), and Kendra Gerk (DNF). Annabel Stafford leads this year's Ram crew with the 14^th-best time in the field with Sarah Carter and Lily Tomasula-Martin following. Stafford and Carter are making their debuts in the race, while Tomasula-Martin finished 26^th last season in this race. The schools that have at least three women in the 5K and 10K are Colorado, Colorado State, New Mexico, and Northern Arizona – all in USTFCCCA Mountain Region. CSU has never had a 5K or 10K female at nationals.

800m Boys
The last two Mountain West Outdoor Champions in the 800m are representing the Rams regionally this week. Ryan Birkmeier (2022 champion) and Dawson LaRance (2021 champion) hold the 32^nd and 46^th seed, respectively. The last time CSU had a men's 800m runner at regionals was 2014, but CSU has never had two Rams make it until this year. Birkmeier is fifth on CSU's all-time list.

Getting Better and Better
Senior Jacob Breuckman has improved each year at conference and regionals, so he is gunning for more of the same to make his first national meet before he sails down to Denver for his post-running career, which is already lined up. Brueckman won the 1500m at conference two weeks ago, improving on his third-place finish in 2021 and 10^th-place finished in 2019. Last year, he was 26^th at NCAA West Prelims, and he heads into this week's contest as the 12^th seed. He is third on CSU's all-time list. Five Rams have competed at the NCAA Championships in history, including the 2001 National Champion Bryan Berryhill who also holds CSU's record in the event.

One Last Hurdle
Seniors Andrew Doctor and Yolonda Johnson are hoping this week isn't their last time hurdling in college. Johnson is the 19^th seed in the women's 400mH with a time of 58.01, which she got with the Mountain West Championship two weeks ago. She sits No. 2 all-time on CSU's list and .31 seconds behind the school record. Doctor is third all-time at CSU and aiming to be the second Ram all-time in the even to reach nationals, joining CSU record holder Trevor Brown.

The Steeplechase
Last year, Emily Chaston placed 28^th in this race and she comes into this week as the 22^nd seed with a time she obtained at conference that is eight all-time at CSU. On the men's side, Emily's brother, Thomas, also is making his second-straight appearance in the regional steeple, however last he did not finish last season due to injury. Dawson Besst makes his first appearance at outdoor conference and the duo makes it back-to-back years that CSU has sent at least two men to the race – a feat done seven times by CSU.

Vaulters
For the second time in CSU history, the Rams are sending at least one male and one female pole vaulter to the NCAA Regional round. The first was the inaugural regional meet in 2003 when Christine Ahn (8^th) and Josh Horak (NH) competed for CSU in the then Midwest Regional. Eldridge Harris obtained the school record on his conference-winning vault two weeks ago, while Celyn Stermer sits second all-time in CSU's history books for the outdoor season.

Debut for Nano
Mountain West's three-time defending shot put champion (2021 outdoor, 2022 indoor, 2022 outdoor), Mariano Kis, will be making his debut at regionals with the 45^th seed. Kis hit his qualifying mark at the end of April with a distance of 58'5.75'', which is 11^th all-time at CSU.

Triple Jump Returner
Allam Bushara is set to make his second regional meet after finishing last season 27^th with a jump of 50'10.75''. Bushara enters this week's meet as the 43^rd seed with a season-best of 49'11.75''. His school record 51'1.5'' came in his first career appearance on April 3, 2021 at home in the Doug Max Invitational. That mark would be 20^th on the seeding list.

Relays
Both of the CSU women's relays are on the fence, seeded 13^th with 12 advancing to nationals. The 4x400m team finished second at conference with a school-record time. One of the runners – Grace Goldsworthy – will be completely fresh going into the event that closes the meet on Saturday as she is not in any other events. The rest of the team (Gale, Ozoude and Johnson) could be running in finals of their individual events just a few hours before the 4x4. In addition, Gale and Ozoude also are on the 4x1 team that starts the track events on Saturday. The other two on the 4x1 squad are Janyah Jasper and Makayla Williams with the latter being her only event like Goldsworthy. If Jasper advances to the 100m final, it'll come after the 4x1 on Saturday. The men's 4x4 team squeaked in as the last seed. Three of the four are on the school record team that obtained the mark in last April. John Fulton is replacing Adam Stark on that foursome. Three of the four also will be completely fresh as DeVon Washington, John Fulton and Jack Cauble are not in any individual events. If Tom Willems advances to Saturday's 400m final, it'll be about two hours prior to the 4x4 race.

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Dawson Besst

Ryan Birkmeier

Jacob Brueckman

Allam Bushara

Sarah Carter

Jack Cauble

Emily Chaston

Thomas Chaston

Adam Dawson

Andrew Doctor

John Fulton

Lauren Gale

Grace Goldsworthy

Eldridge Harris

Michaela Hawkins

Ashlyn Hillyard

Janyah Jasper

Yolonda Johnson

Lexie Keller

Mariano Kis

Dawson LaRance

Gabi Morris

Jackson Morris

Lauren Offerman

Jessica Ozoude

Anna Petr

Annabel Stafford

Adam Stark

Celyn Stermer

Lily Tomasula-Martin

DeVon Washington

Tom Willems

Makayla Williams

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