14 go to Sacramento for NCAA qualifier

Thursday, May 24

Sacramento, Calif.

ALL DAY

Grand Canyon

NCAA West Preliminary Round

Photo by: MSH Photography

5/23/2018 1:12:00 PM | Track and Field

Schedule Women's Heat Sheets Men's Heat Sheets

First group of track athletes compete in NCAA DI qualifier

By: Fletcher Like

Fourteen Grand Canyon track and field student-athletes will become the first Division I track and field athletes to attend the NCAA West Preliminary Championships from Thursday to Saturday in Sacramento, Calif.

Of the 14 GCU athletes who qualified, Tarasue Barnett, Scott Marshall and Ryan Girk are seeded in the top 12, with the best 12 marks from each event moving on to Eugene, Ore. for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

"It has been a long four years where we haven't been able to go to the NCAA postseason meets," Lopes head coach Tom Flood said. "So, we are really excited to have qualified 14 student-athletes."

The four-year transition period did not mean the Lopes would only attend smaller meets. Flood and his staff purposefully scheduled the team to compete at big meets this season, and past seasons, in preparation of this weekend.

The Lopes competed at the 91^st Texas Relays and the Mt. SAC Relays this season with strong performances at both.

The goal was to prepare the team for the big stage with big-time athletes at the regional and national championships.

Seven of the 14 athletes won WAC titles and finished in the top ranks of top meets this season.

Barnett is an Olympian, yet this will be her first NCAA meet. The third-ranked discus thrower won the discus at WAC Outdoor Championships with a meet record, won the discus at the Mt. SAC Relays and finished second at the Texas Relays this season.

Marshall finished tied for 13^th in the nation at the NCAA Indoor Championships this season. A trip to an NCAA meet will be familiar territory for the pole vaulter who won the WAC vault indoor and outdoor titles this season.

Girk did the double at WAC Championships and finished 12^th at the Mt. SAC Relays in the 200-meter dash, the event in which he is ranked 12^th entering the weekend.

William Winfield IV outleaned his competition to win the 110 hurdles at the WAC Championships and finished 13^th at the Mt. SAC Relays.

Marcus Flannigan finished off his sixth consecutive WAC long jump title and finished fourth at the Mt. SAC Relays in the same event.

Alyson Schwartz won the WAC pole vault title, as well as the Mt. SAC Relay crown this season, as a freshman.

Kayla Finnegan (Wilson) won the long jump at the WAC Outdoor Championships, the triple jump at the WAC Indoor Championships and finished second at the Texas Relays in the long jump.

"These 14 outstanding men and women have been and always will be the foundation of our future Division I success, so the fact that it's this group that gets to be the first group is pretty special," Flood said. "They all have had wonderful seasons and they will enjoy every second of this weekend. We hope a few of them qualify for the NCAA finals in Eugene, Oregon, in two weeks."

Josh Hamberlin is the first GCU athlete to begin competition with the men's hammer starting at 12 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Thursday.