Photo by: Nate Barrett
Ten Bobcats Qualify for NCAA West Preliminary Round
5/17/2018 11:10:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Montana State will again have a strong presence at the West Preliminary Round with the NCAA Track and Field and Cross Country Committee announcing its Division I national participants on Thursday
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Montana State will again have a strong presence at the West Preliminary Round with the NCAA Track and Field and Cross Country Committee announcing its Division I national participants on Thursday, May 17. The Bobcat track and field teams will be sending a combined 10 student-athletes to compete at the regional for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Championships.
The West Regional will be hosted by Sacramento State University at Hornet Stadium from May 24-26.
Montana State will be represented in all four disciplines. Four athletes will be featured in each of the throws and distance events, with three of the four throwers having previously participated in the regional round. Four distance runners will be making their debuts in the precursor to the national meet.
Kyle Douglass, Diego Leon, Noah Martin and Calvin Root are set to compete for the MSU men's team. The Bobcats will send Trisha Carlson, Anna French, Amanda Jaynes, Kelsi Lasota, Tiffany Shearman and Carley VonHeeder on the women's side.
"When Kyle threw the 192 (at the Big Sky Championships in the discus), I thought 'if he does that at the first round, he's moving on,'" Montana State head coach Dale Kennedy said. "That's the kind of throw it'd take to move forward. He's ranked well up there and we have several kids that are ranked high that have realistic shots to get in. I think Amanda is in that group, Kelsi and Calvin are in that group, there's some real interesting possibilities and it would be really fun to see them move on to Eugene."
The NCAA announced the top 48 declared entries in all individual events and the top 24 relay teams in each region Thursday. The top 12 finishers in each event at the West and East Preliminary Rounds will advance to compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 6-9.
"It's great to have student-athletes representing Montana State on the national stage," Kennedy said. "That's one of the goals of our program is to be visible on the national level. Certainly, we'll be visible in Sacramento and hopefully we can be at the big show in Eugene."
Douglass, Jaynes and Leon each qualified for two events at the West Regionals, but Leon will focus on the 5,000-meter run as his lone regionals event.
Douglass currently is seventh among region competitors in the discus throw with his lifetime-best mark of 192 feet, 5 inches, which helped catapult him to a Big Sky Conference title. He also is 26th overall in the shot put with a toss of 60-01.25. Leon is ranked ninth in the 5,000 (13:39.89).
Jaynes is MSU's next highest ranked athlete in the West Region. She became the school record holder in the 400 hurdles during the season and is 15th heading into the meet with a time of 57.93 seconds. She won her second consecutive Big Sky championship in the event on May 11. Jaynes also slid into the final qualifying spot in the 100 hurdles with her school-record mark of 13.66.
The remaining six Bobcats will compete in one event apiece. Douglass is set to make his team-high third appearance at the NCAA West Regional. Joining him as returners to the meet are Jaynes, Root and VonHeeder.
The Bobcats are coming off the conference championship less than a week ago and have another week to prepare for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Sacramento.
"Recovery from finals and the Big Sky Championships is important," Kennedy said. "We had two stressful situations back-to-back. One is more fun than the other for most of the kids, but they had to be successful in both. Now, most of them don't have the academic stress on them.
"They have an opportunity to just kind of recover and get some tune-up type of training. Now we need to make sure we're well-rested, healthy and that we're mentally and emotionally ready to go in there and compete."
Regional Rankings Breakdown (Declared event rank, event time in Mountain)
MEN
Kyle Douglass: Discus (7th - 192-5 | May 25, 1 p.m.), Shot Put (25th - 60-01.25 | May 26, 5:30 p.m.)
Diego Leon: 5,000 (9th - 13:39.89 | May 26, 9:05 p.m.)
Noah Martin: High Jump (T32nd - 6-11 | May 26, 5 p.m.)
Calvin Root: Hammer (28th - 206-07 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
WOMEN
Kelsi Lasota: 10,000 (19th – 33:51.85 | May 24, 10:40 p.m.)
Carley VonHeeder: Javelin (30th – 156-03 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
Amanda Jaynes: 400 Hurdles (15th – 57.93 | May 24, 6 p.m.), 100 Hurdles (48th – 13.66, May 25, 6 p.m.)
Anna French: 3,000 Steeplechase (28th – 10:22.95 | May 25, 10 p.m.)
Trisha Carlson: 3,000 Steeplechase (26th – 10:21.63 | May 25, 10 p.m.)
Tiffany Shearman: Javelin (38th – 153-00 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
The West Regional will be hosted by Sacramento State University at Hornet Stadium from May 24-26.
Montana State will be represented in all four disciplines. Four athletes will be featured in each of the throws and distance events, with three of the four throwers having previously participated in the regional round. Four distance runners will be making their debuts in the precursor to the national meet.
Kyle Douglass, Diego Leon, Noah Martin and Calvin Root are set to compete for the MSU men's team. The Bobcats will send Trisha Carlson, Anna French, Amanda Jaynes, Kelsi Lasota, Tiffany Shearman and Carley VonHeeder on the women's side.
"When Kyle threw the 192 (at the Big Sky Championships in the discus), I thought 'if he does that at the first round, he's moving on,'" Montana State head coach Dale Kennedy said. "That's the kind of throw it'd take to move forward. He's ranked well up there and we have several kids that are ranked high that have realistic shots to get in. I think Amanda is in that group, Kelsi and Calvin are in that group, there's some real interesting possibilities and it would be really fun to see them move on to Eugene."
The NCAA announced the top 48 declared entries in all individual events and the top 24 relay teams in each region Thursday. The top 12 finishers in each event at the West and East Preliminary Rounds will advance to compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 6-9.
"It's great to have student-athletes representing Montana State on the national stage," Kennedy said. "That's one of the goals of our program is to be visible on the national level. Certainly, we'll be visible in Sacramento and hopefully we can be at the big show in Eugene."
Douglass, Jaynes and Leon each qualified for two events at the West Regionals, but Leon will focus on the 5,000-meter run as his lone regionals event.
Douglass currently is seventh among region competitors in the discus throw with his lifetime-best mark of 192 feet, 5 inches, which helped catapult him to a Big Sky Conference title. He also is 26th overall in the shot put with a toss of 60-01.25. Leon is ranked ninth in the 5,000 (13:39.89).
Jaynes is MSU's next highest ranked athlete in the West Region. She became the school record holder in the 400 hurdles during the season and is 15th heading into the meet with a time of 57.93 seconds. She won her second consecutive Big Sky championship in the event on May 11. Jaynes also slid into the final qualifying spot in the 100 hurdles with her school-record mark of 13.66.
The remaining six Bobcats will compete in one event apiece. Douglass is set to make his team-high third appearance at the NCAA West Regional. Joining him as returners to the meet are Jaynes, Root and VonHeeder.
The Bobcats are coming off the conference championship less than a week ago and have another week to prepare for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Sacramento.
"Recovery from finals and the Big Sky Championships is important," Kennedy said. "We had two stressful situations back-to-back. One is more fun than the other for most of the kids, but they had to be successful in both. Now, most of them don't have the academic stress on them.
"They have an opportunity to just kind of recover and get some tune-up type of training. Now we need to make sure we're well-rested, healthy and that we're mentally and emotionally ready to go in there and compete."
Regional Rankings Breakdown (Declared event rank, event time in Mountain)
MEN
Kyle Douglass: Discus (7th - 192-5 | May 25, 1 p.m.), Shot Put (25th - 60-01.25 | May 26, 5:30 p.m.)
Diego Leon: 5,000 (9th - 13:39.89 | May 26, 9:05 p.m.)
Noah Martin: High Jump (T32nd - 6-11 | May 26, 5 p.m.)
Calvin Root: Hammer (28th - 206-07 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
WOMEN
Kelsi Lasota: 10,000 (19th – 33:51.85 | May 24, 10:40 p.m.)
Carley VonHeeder: Javelin (30th – 156-03 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
Amanda Jaynes: 400 Hurdles (15th – 57.93 | May 24, 6 p.m.), 100 Hurdles (48th – 13.66, May 25, 6 p.m.)
Anna French: 3,000 Steeplechase (28th – 10:22.95 | May 25, 10 p.m.)
Trisha Carlson: 3,000 Steeplechase (26th – 10:21.63 | May 25, 10 p.m.)
Tiffany Shearman: Javelin (38th – 153-00 | May 24, 1 p.m.)
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Women's Track and Field
Throws
/ Men's Track and Field
Distance
/ Women's Track and Field
Sprints
/ Women's Track and Field
Distance
/ Women's Track and Field
Distance
/ Men's Track and Field
Jumps
/ Men's Track and Field
Throws
/ Men's Track and Field
Throws
/ Women's Track and Field
Throws
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Coach Kennedy - Feb. 11, 2013
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Coach Kennedy - Feb. 4, 2013
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