Completed Event: Track and Field at Texas Relays on March 26, 2025 ,
Track & Field
at Texas Relays
Grand Canyon University Athletics
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14 qualify for NCAA West Championships
5/17/2018 1:20:00 PM | Track and Field
Barnett, Girk highlight list of qualified athletes
INDIANAPOLIS – In an NCAA announcement, fourteen Lopes qualified for the NCAA West Region Championships in Sacramento, California that occur May 24-26. This is the first season the Lopes have been eligible to qualify for the NCAA West Region Championships at the Division I level.
"I am absolutely thrilled that, in our first year of Division I eligibility, we qualified over a dozen student-athletes to the NCAA West Regional Championships," head coach Tom Flood said.
Highlighting the selections is the third-ranked discus thrower Tarasue Barnett. Barnett hovered around sixth in the country all season long in the discus until she broke the Western Athletic Conference Championship meet record at the WAC Championships last weekend. The senior's 60.74-meter throw sits in third in the nation and is the top throw in the country over the past two weeks.
Alyson Schwartz is the only GCU freshman to qualify, using her 4.05-meter school record pole vault to win the WAC Championship title.
The women have four qualified athletes with Barnett, Schwartz, Jennifer Johnson (Rolph) and Kayla Finnegan (Wilson). Johnson's 4.00-meter vault has her ranked in the top 48 and Finnegan's 6.17-meter long jump from the Texas Relays has her qualified as well.
On the men's side, 10 athletes qualified in 11 events. Ryan Girk's blistering 200-meter WAC title time of 20.51 has him seeded ninth with an NCAA Championship berth within reach.
Guillermo Alcala Rendon qualified for the 200 as well with a 21.07, and Dionee Marrero sprinted his way into the qualifying field of the 200 with a 21.13 sprint.
William Winfield IV's 110-meter hurdle time of 14.00 gets the junior into the high-hurdle field.
Scott Marshall has been on the NCAA stage this season already and will look to take advantage of his second trip to an NCAA meet this season, carrying a 5.35-meter pole vault mark into the meet. The senior holds the school record in both the indoor and outdoor vault.
Marcus Flannigan had a huge 7.69-meter long jump at the WAC Championships to win his sixth straight WAC crown. Teammate Adrian King sneaks into the field as the 48th selection with his 7.52-meter leap.
Two throwers round out the field of 14 qualified athletes from Grand Canyon: Josh Hamberlin in the hammer throw and Jesse Newman in the javelin. Hamberlin won WAC gold in Kansas but had a 63.35-meter school record throw at the Steve Scott Invite. Newman destroyed the school record on his final throw at the WAC Championships in order to win gold and cement his name in the qualifying list at 16th.
"It is a really good start for our track and field program and we will look to make as much noise as possible and get as many athletes to the NCAA Championship meet," Flood said.
A total of 14 athletes qualified in 15 events for the Lopes.
Men:
Ryan Girk
Guillermo Alcala Rendon
Dionee Marrero
William Winfield IV
Scott Marshall
Marcus Flannigan
Adrian King
Josh Hamberlin
Jesse Newman
Women:
Tarasue Barnett
Kayla Finnegan (Wilson)
Alyson Schwartz
Jennifer Johnson (Rolph)
"I am absolutely thrilled that, in our first year of Division I eligibility, we qualified over a dozen student-athletes to the NCAA West Regional Championships," head coach Tom Flood said.
Highlighting the selections is the third-ranked discus thrower Tarasue Barnett. Barnett hovered around sixth in the country all season long in the discus until she broke the Western Athletic Conference Championship meet record at the WAC Championships last weekend. The senior's 60.74-meter throw sits in third in the nation and is the top throw in the country over the past two weeks.
Alyson Schwartz is the only GCU freshman to qualify, using her 4.05-meter school record pole vault to win the WAC Championship title.
The women have four qualified athletes with Barnett, Schwartz, Jennifer Johnson (Rolph) and Kayla Finnegan (Wilson). Johnson's 4.00-meter vault has her ranked in the top 48 and Finnegan's 6.17-meter long jump from the Texas Relays has her qualified as well.
On the men's side, 10 athletes qualified in 11 events. Ryan Girk's blistering 200-meter WAC title time of 20.51 has him seeded ninth with an NCAA Championship berth within reach.
Guillermo Alcala Rendon qualified for the 200 as well with a 21.07, and Dionee Marrero sprinted his way into the qualifying field of the 200 with a 21.13 sprint.
William Winfield IV's 110-meter hurdle time of 14.00 gets the junior into the high-hurdle field.
Scott Marshall has been on the NCAA stage this season already and will look to take advantage of his second trip to an NCAA meet this season, carrying a 5.35-meter pole vault mark into the meet. The senior holds the school record in both the indoor and outdoor vault.
Marcus Flannigan had a huge 7.69-meter long jump at the WAC Championships to win his sixth straight WAC crown. Teammate Adrian King sneaks into the field as the 48th selection with his 7.52-meter leap.
Two throwers round out the field of 14 qualified athletes from Grand Canyon: Josh Hamberlin in the hammer throw and Jesse Newman in the javelin. Hamberlin won WAC gold in Kansas but had a 63.35-meter school record throw at the Steve Scott Invite. Newman destroyed the school record on his final throw at the WAC Championships in order to win gold and cement his name in the qualifying list at 16th.
"It is a really good start for our track and field program and we will look to make as much noise as possible and get as many athletes to the NCAA Championship meet," Flood said.
A total of 14 athletes qualified in 15 events for the Lopes.
Men:
Ryan Girk
Guillermo Alcala Rendon
Dionee Marrero
William Winfield IV
Scott Marshall
Marcus Flannigan
Adrian King
Josh Hamberlin
Jesse Newman
Women:
Tarasue Barnett
Kayla Finnegan (Wilson)
Alyson Schwartz
Jennifer Johnson (Rolph)
Players Mentioned
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THR
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