STANFORD, Calif. – Twenty-eight Stanford track and field athletes – 15 men and 13 women – plus each team's 4x100-meter relays have qualified for the NCAA West Prelims, the meet that determines the NCAA Championships field.
The West regional, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on May 25-28, is one of two in the country, along with another in Bloomington, Indiana. Athletes qualified by achieving the top 48 marks from each half of the country. The exceptions are the relays, in which 24 teams advanced.
The fields were completed Thursday, though medical scratches are being accepted through Monday.
The top 12 in each event advance to the NCAA Championships, creating a 24-participant field. The top 24 in the multi-events – including Stanford heptathlete Allie Jones -- advance directly to the NCAA Championships, June 8-11 in Eugene, Oregon.
Top-12 men's seeds for Stanford are: Charles Hicks (No. 1, 10,000; No. 7, 5,000), Cole Sprout (No. 2, 10,000; No. 8, 5,000), Udodi Onwuzurike (No. 4, 200; No. 6, 100), Ky Robinson (No. 6, 5,000), and Keyshawn King (No. 8, triple jump).
Top-12 women's seeds for Stanford are: Julia Heymach (No. 1, 1,500), Christina Aragon (No. 2, 1,500), Virginia Miller (No. 5, javelin), and Ellie Deligianni (No. 7, 800). Allie Jones (No. 9 nationally, heptathlon) advances directly to the NCAA Championships.
The most representatives in any event for Stanford is in the men's 5,000 and 10,000, with five qualifiers each. Hicks, Sprout, and Thomas Boyden are competing in both. Top women's representation comes from the 1,500, with three -- Heymach, Aragon, and Melissa Tanaka.
Stanford's first-time qualifiers include four true freshmen: Onwuzurike (100, 200, 4x100 relay), Garrett Brown (pole vault), John Lester (800), and Nolan Topper (10,000). Other first-time qualifiers are Evan Burke (5,000), Max Manson (pole vault), Max McKhann (hammer), and Kevin Yang (triple jump). Graduate transfer Chudi Ikpeazu (discus) competed in the NCAA East Prelims in 2019 while throwing for Penn.
First-time women's qualifiers are: freshmen Audrey Suarez (5,000) and Maya Valmon (400), senior Kennedy Gamble (100, 200), and junior Laurel Wong (pole vault). Graduate transfer Melissa Tanaka (1,500) competed in the 800 at the NCAA East Prelims in 2019 while running for Penn.
The members of the men's 4x100 relay team that recorded its fastest time this season were Dorien Simon, Olufemi Cole, Karson Lippert, and Onwuzurike.
The members of the women's 4x100 that recorded its season best were Olivia Okoli, Alexa Rossum, Kennedy Gamble, and Megan Olomu.
Previous All-Americans (including cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field) to advance are Hicks, McKhann, Robinson, and Sprout for the men. All-Americans for the women to advance are Aragon, Deligianni, Heymach, Jones, and Miller.
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Chudi Ikpeazu. Photo by Isaac Wasserman/Pac-12.
Stanford's Qualifiers
(West rankings, best marks):
Men (15 individuals, 20 spots)
100: 6, Udodi Onwuzurike 10.07.
200: 4, Udodi Onwuzurike 20.09.
800: 17, John Lester 1:48.49.
5,000: 6, Ky Robinson 13:23.61; 7, Charles Hicks 13:24.58; 8, Cole Sprout 13:27.02; 24, Thomas Boyden 13:37.39; 26, Evan Burke 13:38.82.
10,000: Charles Hicks 27:40.16; 2, Cole Sprout 27:42.42; 21, Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau 28:35.17; 29, Nolan Topper 28:44.15; 30, Thomas Boyden 28:44.67.
4x100 relay: 19, Stanford 39.75.
Pole vault: 19, Max Manson 17-5 (5.31m); 20, Garrett Brown 17-5 (5.31m).
Triple jump: 8, Keyshawn King 53-0 ¾ (16.17m); 37, Kevin Yang 50-4 ¾ (15.36m).
Discus: 35, Chudi Ikpeazu 183-9 (56.02m).
Hammer: 25, Max McKhann 212-0 (64.62m).
Women (13 individuals, 16 spots)
100: 28, Kennedy Gamble 11.42.
200: 41, Kennedy Gamble 23.69.
400: 28, Maya Valmon 53.36.
800: 7, Ellie Deligianni 2:03.48.
1,500: 1, Julia Heymach 4:11.00; 2, Christina Aragon 4:12.82; 17, Melissa Tanaka 4:17.31.
5,000: 10, Lucy Jenks 15:41.13; 44, Audrey Suarez 16:13.85.
10,000: 38, Grace Connolly 34:09.79.
100 hurdles: 34, Allie Jones 13.42.
4x100 relay: 22, Stanford 45.06.
Pole vault: 22, Laurel Wong 13-7 ¼ (4.15m).
Hammer: 25, Jordan Fong 203-9 (62.11m).
Javelin: 5, Virginia Miller 181-3 (55.26m).
Heptathlon: 9 (national rank), Allie Jones 5,832 (advances directly to NCAA Championships).