Baylor
NCAA West Preliminary Championships
T&F Opens NCAA West Preliminary Championships
5/25/2018 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
NCAA West Prelims Results 
| Full Results (Thursday)
THE RUNDOWN
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Baylor track & field team had 11 runners qualify for their respective quarterfinal races on day one of the NCAA West Preliminary Championships Thursday at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.
BU WOMEN NOTABLES
Megan SaxvanderWeyden kicked off postseason action with the second-best javelin throw in school history at 160-4 (48.89m) to finish first in her heat but ultimately finish 14th overall out of 48 competitors. She finishes her season with eight of the top-10 program marks in the event with seven set in 2018.
Kiana Hawn kicked off action on the track with an auto-qualifying time of 58.81 in the 400-meter hurdles. Sarah Yocum finished her freshman season with a 400-hurdle time of 1:01.29 to finish 22nd.
Kiana Horton (53.41) and Victoria Powell (53.89) posted top-three finishes in heats four and five to auto-advance to the 400-meter quarterfinals on Friday.
In the 100 meters, Taylor Bennett led the charge as she auto-qualified for the quarterfinals with a time of 11.35. Raven Grant narrowly missed the cut with 11.60 while Sydney Washington and Juanita Mainoo clocked 11.79 and 12.00, respectively.
The 800-meter trio of Aaliyah Miller (2:07.24), Leticia De Souza (2:07.92) and Morgan Stewart (2:11.45) closed out the night with Miller and De Souza advancing to Friday's quarterfinals.
BU MEN NOTABLES
The Baylor men's team kicked off competition with two advancing entries in the 400-meter hurdles. Jayson Baldridge clocked 50.60 in heat six to clinch an auto-advancing spot while Antwuan Musgrove went 51.10 to advance out of heat one.
Maxwell Willis auto-advanced to the 100-meter quarterfinals with a time of 10.32 in heat six.
Wil London (46.60) and Caleb Dickson (46.97) earned spots in the 400-meter quarterfinals while Howard Fields III finished one spot short after running 47.05.
In the field, Riley B. Richards concluded his freshman season with a 17th-place finish in the pole vault after going 16' 4.5" (5.00m) after missing on his three attempts at 16' 10.75" (5.15m). Jalen Seals scratched on his first two attempts but came back to jump 23' 11.5" (7.30m) in his third try to finish 28th overall.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Eleven Bears advanced to the quarterfinal round in seven total events: men's and women's 100 meters, men's and women's 400-meter hurdles, women's 800 meters and men's and women's 400 meters.
• The women's team had five auto-qualifying times by finishing top three in their respective heats.
• The men's team had three auto-qualifying times by finishing top three in their respective heats.
• Megan SaxvanderWeyden, Jalen Seals and Riley B. Richards represented the Bears in three field events and all posted top-28 finishes.
TOP QUOTE #1
"It was a good first day. You're always going to have some near misses. We had a couple just miss (the next round). For the most part, we got everybody through. For the young ones, it's always a challenge at NCAA's. No matter where you're ranked it. When you hit the NCAA meet, it forces you to be perfect. We had a lot of good things today. All you're trying to do today is survive and advance. We've got another busy day tomorrow, so we'll see what we can get done." -head coach Todd Harbour on day one competition
TOP QUOTE #2
"We're proud of Megan SaxvanderWeyden and the season she's had in the javelin. She just missed it. I know she was disappointed, but she improved on her ranking. It was a tough one for Riley B. Richards too. He looked so good on that first jump. Jalen Seals only got one legal jump in, and that's all they give you with three, so that was a little challenging for him. Overall, I'm proud of all of them." --head coach Todd Harbour on the Bears' three field entries
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears continue postseason action with day two of the NCAA West Preliminary Championships Friday in Sacramento, Calif. The women's pole vault kicks off action at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Paid subscribers can watch the meet all weekend long at www.FloTrack.org.
Follow the team all season long on their official social media accounts: @BaylorTrack.
Players Mentioned
