NCAA West Preliminaries
Hornet Stadium | Sacramento, Calif. 
Thursday, May 23 – Saturday, May 25
WATCH LIVE RESULTS
HEAT SHEETS (PDF)
 
 
DALLAS (SMU) - Seven Mustangs are headed to Sacramento to compete in the NCAA West Preliminaries, beginning on Thursday. The Mustangs earned eight total entries across six different events at the Preliminaries, set for Sacramento State's Hornet Stadium.
 
The Mustangs are fresh off a strong American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships performance with a third place finish. The Mustangs brought home nine total medals, including eight on the final where the squad moved up seven spots on the leaderboard.  
 
The first Mustang event of the Prelims will be the 400 Hurdles first round at 6:30 p.m. C.T. on Friday with Madison Pyle and Ashton Woods representing SMU. Pyle holds the SMU record in the 400 hurdles and won bronze at the AAC Outdoors. The senior ran the program's first sub-minute 400 hurdles in the final from Wichita. Woods has the second best time in program history and has a top time of 1:00.35 on the season.
 
Junior Chelsea Francis will represent the Mustangs in both the 100 and 200 meters. Francis won two golds at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships and was named Most Outstanding Track Performer. She is seeded 6th in the 100 and 13th in the 200. She set the SMU record in the 100-meter earlier in the season.

A pair of Mustangs are set to compete in the 10,000 meters out west which is slated for 11:00 p.m. Thursday night. Junior Hannah Miller, the silver medalist in the 10,000 meter at the AAC, qualified with the 12th-fastest time in the West. Senior Svenja Ojstersek qualified, as well. Ojstersek posted a fourth-place finish in the 10,000 at the AACs, along with a bronze medal in the 5,000.
 
Along with the 400 hurdles first round, Thursday will feature the first round of the 100 and 400 meters with Francis and Chika Iwuamadi representing SMU. Iwuamadi broke the program record in the 400 at the AAC Outdoors and brought home a silver. The freshman also helped the Mustangs win bronze in the 4x400 relay.

Friday will include the finals for the 400, 100 and 400 hurdles, as well as the first round of the 200 meter.

Saturday's final-day events include the 200 meter final, as well as the triple jump, featuring Nicole Iloanya. Iloanya won bronze at the AAC Outdoor, tying her career best with a distance of 12.96.

The top-12 finishers from each event in Sacramento will earn bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships held in Austin, June 5-8.

Last season in Sacramento, the Mustangs were represented by five student-athletes. Miller and Francis both have experience at the prelims with Francis running in the 100 meter, finishing in 18th and competing in the 200 meter, placing 21^st, just missing a spot in the Championships. Miller raced in both the 5,000 and the 10,000, finishing in 42nd and 31st, respectively.  A pair of Mustangs qualified for the NCAA Championships in Tochi Nlemchi (Shot Put) and Latessa Johnson (200 meter).