Colorado Closes Out West Prelims on High Note

SACRAMENTO – The University of Colorado track and field program put together an outstanding final day at the NCAA West Preliminaries, adding four more events qualified to the NCAA National Championships.

After the three days Colorado qualified 13 total student-athletes to the NCAA Championships, tying the second-most individuals at an outdoor championship in school history with the 2007 and 1999 squads. 10 women will compete in five events, while the men get three through in three events. CU will compete in 13 total competitions in Austin in two weeks.

"Before each year at this meet I make a projection chart and think if we all have a brilliant day how many get through and if we have an excellent weekend how many get through and I would have to say we exceeded my optimistic projection," said head coach Mark Wetmore.

The men had a strong evening led by John Dressel in the men's 5,000. The junior put his body on the line for the chance to compete in the double at Austin. Dressel went out in a slow first heat of the men's 5,000 and kept himself in the chase as he stuck around sixth with 14 men in the peloton with 800 left. The group dropped the hammer with 700 meters left and Dressel moved into fifth in the final turn. Down the homestretch he was on the verge of getting caught when he dove from two meters out to move from nearly caught in sixth to fourth in the heat and automatically qualifying. His time ended up 14:07.972, flying past BYU's Clayton Young by five-thousands of a second for fourth.

"It was breezy here tonight and there were a lot of tired people in the race that had run other events, either the steeplechase or the 10,000 so they didn't want to lead," said Wetmore. "The people that were fresh felt let's leave it until the sprint because I have fresh legs and so it was slow. It was very tactical and cagy and then it got winding up with a mile to go. John was among the tired people in there but he raced his heart out and dove at the tape. I'm looking for a way to find the photo, I'd love to see the photo of the finish."

For the women, the highlight of the night was the women's 4x400-meter relay going from fifth to third in the final lap to qualify for nationals for the first time since 1996. Dani Johnson and Valerie Welch led off the first half of the relay with huge personal bests of 53.74 and 53.81 unofficial splits, respectfully. Henderson had a strong third leg of 55.22 and handed off to Gabby Scott in fifth who went to work right away. She moved to fourth after just 120 meters and closed the gap on Kansas for the final auto-qualifier spot, passing the Jayhawks in the final 10 meters. She split an outstanding 51.81, sending the women to the championships with the eighth-best time of 3:34.92.

"Gabby had an excellent run the other night in the hurdles, lowering her school record once again and she was brilliant tonight on the anchor leg of the 4x4 but it takes four runners," said Wetmore. "They had to get her the stick within reach then she did her job and put them in Austin. That was the second-most exciting race of the night."

In the women's 5,000s, Makena Morley started things out with an edgy finish in the first heat. She finished sixth in her heat at 15:42.55 and held the first non-auto qualifying position with a heat left. In the second heat, Dani Jones stayed with a much slower heat and kept around sixth for most of the race until 3200 in when Weini Kelati took the lead and opened up the race. The chase pack of eight were together in the final 800 with Jones holding the fifth position. A chase for third broke with 600 left and Jones took control and sprinted to third with 300 left to qualify in 15:46.93. The slow heat proved in favor of Morley as she qualified through with the seventh-best time and Jones with the 11^th.

"Makena had a wonderful race again, coming back on tired legs from the 10,000 just 48 hours ago," said Wetmore. "She fought the whole way and closed on some people and got herself into a second event in Austin, very proud of her. Dani was just being completely careful and doing what was necessary to advance. She was trying to run as easily as possible, but there was a big pack with a couple laps to go and it was nerve-racking because we couldn't tell how she felt, then she proved how she felt and just roared away and secured her spot and went for a cool down."

Eduardo Herrera booked his ticket to Austin with a spectacular finish in the second heat of the men's 1,500 final. The sophomore was seventh as he rounded the turn to the home stretch and began kicking down athlete after athlete as he closed in on an automatic qualifying position. He leveled up with Cameron Griffith of Arkansas and knew he had done it as he crossed just a hundredth of a second ahead for second in the heat. His time of 3:41.35 is a two second personal best mark and puts him fifth in school history.

"Lola (Eduardo) might have been the most exciting race of the day," said Wetmore. "He came in here probably 68^th or something on the form chart but found a way through the quarterfinals into this race and then was brilliant here today. It wasn't that he took advantage of the wind or took advantage of people falling or people being cagy because the race was fast. He ran his fastest time ever, beat some really good guys and just timed his year perfectly. He is off to Austin and we are all very excited."

Also for Colorado in the 5,000s, Tabor Scholl ran 16:13.62 for 25^th and Kaitlyn Benner ran 16:22.35 for 29^th. On the men's side, Ethan Gonzales ran 14:15.08 for 29^th and Ryan Forsyth finished 35^th in 14:21.63.

Freshman Jeremy Cody had a strong performance in the men's high jump, tying his personal best mark of 2.11m (6-11). He finished tied for 17^th after he cleared the mark on his second try. His mark tied the last height to qualify for nationals but he wasn't able to compete in the six person jump off because of his first miss at the height. The jump off took three to nationals after six were unable to clear 2.16 on their first try and then three cleared 2.14m.

Also for Colorado, Karina Mann closed out her career with a 19^th position finish in the 1,500. She finished 10^th in the first heat with a time of 4:22.87.

The final event of the meet for CU was the men's 4x400-meter relay squad. Four sophomores took to the track, Jon Maas, Kendal Smith, Nathan Hoy and Aaron McCoy. The quartet ran 3:11.89 to finish eighth in the second heat.

	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	47.09	22nd
7:30 PM	Women's 800 Finals	Elissa Mann	2:05.40	15th
8:00 PM	Women's 400 Hurdle Finals	Gabby Scott	56.51	2nd (Q)
		Eriana Henderson	57.67	13th
9:20 PM	Women's 3000 Steeplechase Final	Val Constien	9:44.51	4th (Q)
Saturday
5:00 PM	Men's High Jump	Jeremy Cody	2.11m (6-11)	T17th
7:30 PM	Women's 1500 Final	Karina Mann	4:22.87	19th
7:45 PM	Men's 1500 Final	Eduardo Herrera	3:41.35	5th (Q)
9:05 PM	Women's 5000 Final	Dani Jones	15:46.93	11th (Q)
		Makena Morley	15:42.55	7th (q)
		Tabor Scholl	16:13.62	25th
		Kaitlyn Benner	16:22.35	29th
9:45 PM	Men's 5000 Final	John Dressel	14:07.98	20th (Q)
		Ryan Forsyth	14:21.63	35th
		Ethan Gonzales	14:15.08	29th
10:25 PM	Women's 4x400 Final	Welch, Johnson, Scott, Henderson	3:34.92	8th (Q)
10:45 PM	Men's 4x400 Final	Maas, Smith, Hoy, McCoy	3:11.89	22nd

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Players Mentioned

Kaitlyn Benner

Jeremy Cody

John Dressel

Gabe Fendel

Ryan Forsyth

Ethan Gonzales

Elisa Grandemange

Kylee Harr

Eriana Henderson

Eduardo Herrera

Annie Hill

Nathan Hoy

Dani Johnson

Dani Jones

Jon Maas

Elissa Mann

Karina Mann

Aaron McCoy

Makena Morley

Tabor Scholl

Gabby Scott

Kendal Smith

Valerie Welch