Colorado Prepped for NCAA West Preliminaries

BOULDER – The University of Colorado track and field program will send 24 student-athletes to the 2019 NCAA West Preliminaries at Sacramento State University starting tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 p.m. (MT).

CU will compete in 16 total events with the goal to place in the top-12 in the events and advance to the NCAA National Championships in Austin, Texas. 14 women and 10 men compete with the men featured in seven events and the women in nine.

Colorado has three women ranked inside the top-12 in the NCAA West going into this weekend in their respected events. Elissa Mann is the eighth-ranked individual in the 800-meter run, Gabby Scott is fourth in the 400 hurdles and Val Constien is eighth in the steeplechase.

Scott, who will also anchor the women's 4x400, has been shattering record this year after she dropped her own school record in the 400 hurdles against last weekend by nearly another second. Not only is Scott the highest-ranked individual for CU in the West, she is also the only top-10 athlete for the Buffs in the nation. After last weekend Scott jumped to fifth in the nation overall. The senior will have a second cushion as she is the third-ranked athlete declared for the event in the West. The athlete in the 12^th-fastest spot is ranked at 57.95.

Constien is another Buffaloes with some cushion. Her fastest time this season of 10:01.19 is eighth on the descending order list, with 12^th being 10:06.10. Since 2016, Constien has only ran slower than 10:06 once in her first race back after redshirting in 2017.

Mann will have the smallest amount of cushion with 23 women under 2:06 this season. Mann's 2:04.35 is eighth in the West with 12^th seeded at 2:05.01. She has run faster than 2:05 twice in her career, last weekend and her 2:03.96 that she ran in the West Preliminaries last season to send her to the NCAA National Championships.

Through scratches, Makena Morley is also in a safer position in the women's 5,000. The junior is 10^th with a time of 15:43.37 this season, while 12^th is 15:45.72. Morley will have the benefit of running with her teammates Kaitlyn Benner and Tabor Scholl in the first heat of two. Dani Jones, ranked 16^th after scratches, will run without teammates in the second heat.

Colorado will have large number of athletes in both 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs, as well as the 400 hurdles. Four women are entered in the 5,000, Jones, Morley, Benner and Tabor Scholl. Of those four, all but Jones will double in the 10,000 as well. On the men's distance side, Ryan Forsyth is the 13^th-ranked athlete in the 5,000 with John Dressel 16^th. Those two will also run with Ethan Gonzales for the 5,000 but will count on one-another in the 10,000 for the double. For the women's 400 hurdles, Scott leads the way with teammates Eriana Henderson and Valerie Welch. The three will join up with Dani Johnson during the 4x400-meter relay.

Action begins for the Buffaloes tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. (MT) with the women's high jump. Freshman Kylee Harr is entered in the event after jumping 1.75 meters (5-8.75) at the first meet of the season. Her mark is tied for 10^th in school history. She will be joined in the field events by Elisa Grandemange in the hammer throw. On the track, 400 hurdle prelims begin at 3:30 p.m. for the women and at 4 p.m. for Aaron McCoy on the men's side. Thursday's action will also include prelims in the 1,500, 400, 800 and the 10,000 finals.

Friday's action with begin with the finals in the 400, 800, 400 hurdles and end with the steeplechase, while Saturday features the men's high jump, 1,500 finals, 5,000 finals and the 4x400-meter relays. All three days of competition will be streamed on FloTrack.

	2019 NCAA WEST PRELIMINARIES
DAY/TIME (MT)	EVENT	ATHLETE	RESULT	PLACE
Thursday
4:30 PM	Women's High Jump	Kylee Harr	NH	T44th
5:00 PM	Women's Hammer Throw	Elisa Grandemange	57.79m (189-7)	31st
5:30 PM	Women's 400 Hurdle Prelims	Gabby Scott	57.79	3rd (Q)
		Eriana Henderson	58.42	11th (Q)
		Valerie Welch	1:00.47	30th
6:00 PM	Men's 400 Hurdle Prelims	Aaron McCoy	51.72	26th
6:30 PM	Women's 1500 Prelims	Annie Hill	4:23.66	29th
		Karina Mann	4:16.89	5th (Q)
7:00 PM	Men's 1500 Prelims	Gabe Fendel	3:46.61	24th
		Eduardo Herrera	3:45.20	12th (Q)
8:45 PM	Men's 400 Prelims	Jon Maas	47.47	33rd (Q)
9:10 PM	Women's 800 Prelims	Elissa Mann	2:06.28	8th (q)
10:00 PM	Women's 10,000 Final	Makena Morley	33:44.72	9th
		Kaitlyn Benner	33:44.70	8th
		Tabor Scholl	34:23.83	18th
10:40 PM	Men's 10,000 Final	John Dressel	29:00.98	9th
		Ryan Forsyth	29:03.07	12th
Friday
6:45 PM	Men's 400 Finals	Jon Maas
7:30 PM	Women's 800 Finals	Elissa Mann
8:00 PM	Women's 400 Hurdle Finals	Gabby Scott
		Eriana Henderson
		Valerie Welch
8:15 PM	Men's 400 Hurdle Finals	Aaron McCoy
9:20 PM	Women's 3000 Steeplechase Final	Val Constien
Saturday
5:00 PM	Men's High Jump	Jeremy Cody
7:30 PM	Women's 1500 Final	Annie Hill
		Karina Mann
7:45 PM	Men's 1500 Final	Gabe Fendel
		Eduardo Herrera
9:05 PM	Women's 5000 Final	Dani Jones
		Makena Morley
		Tabor Scholl
		Kaitlyn Benner
9:45 PM	Men's 5000 Final	John Dressel
		Ryan Forsyth
		Ethan Gonzales
10:25 PM	Women's 4x400 Final	Welch, Johnson, Scott, Henderson
10:45 PM	Men's 4x400 Final	Maas, Smith, Hoy, Monestime, McCoy, McClurkin Jr.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kaitlyn Benner

Jeremy Cody

John Dressel

Gabe Fendel

Ryan Forsyth

Ethan Gonzales

Elisa Grandemange

Kylee Harr

Eriana Henderson

Eduardo Herrera

Annie Hill

Dani Johnson

Dani Jones

Jon Maas

Elissa Mann

Karina Mann

Aaron McCoy

Makena Morley

Tabor Scholl

Gabby Scott

Valerie Welch