Cougars Head to Sacramento for NCAA First Round

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State men’s and women’s track and field teams open the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in the West Preliminary Round.  This season’s opening round of the championships, which will be streamed live on ESPN+, will see the West region compete this Wednesday through Saturday at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.

NCAA West Preliminary Round Meet Info:

>> Date/Location: Wed.-  Sat., May 24-27  | Sacramento, Calif. – Hornet Stadium

>> Stream: ESPN+

>> Day 1 Start Times (Wed.): 6 p.m. (Track)/ 10 a.m. (Field)

>> Day 2 Start Times (Thurs.): 6 p.m. (Track)/ 10 a.m. (Field)

>> Day 3 Start Times (Fri.): 5 p.m. (Track)/ 1 p.m. (Field)

>> Day 4 Start Times (Sat.): 5 p.m. (Track)/ 1 p.m. (Field)

>> WSU Meet Notes (PDF)

Cougar Notables:

>> Micaela De Mello, the Cougs’ all-time record holder in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, will look to improve on her 17th-place finish at last year’s outdoor championships in Eugene, Ore.

>> Junior Elena Willems has dropped nearly 20 full seconds off of her personal-best in the 800m run since her freshman year and earlier this year, she moved into sixth all-time with a new PR at 2:05.48.

>> Hurdler Jared McAlvey is the lone Coug with a top-10 seed heading into this year’s NCAA First Round after dropping his PR to 50.23 for a runner-up finish at last week’s Pac-12 Championships.

>> Ronald Grueso-Mosquera (shot put, discus) and Zach Stallings (1,500m, 5,000m) are the only two West Preliminary qualifiers who will compete in more than one event this week.

>> Grueso-Mosquera sits at No. 5 all-time at WSU (19.16m) in the shot and is on the verge of cracking the top-10 list in the men’s discus after slipping in to the NCAA First Round with a PR and sixth-place finish (56.57m) at the Pac-12 Championships.

>> Stallings will depart WSU at No. 3 all-time with a 3:57.00 indoor mile and he goes into his last NCAA Championships at sixth all-time in the 1,500m (3:39.32).

>> Freshman Louie Hinchliffe grabbed the WSU freshman records in both the 60-meter (6.71) and 100-meter (10.22) to begin his career and heads into his first-career West Preliminary Round as the 27th overall seed and is just .05 seconds off of the Cougs’ all-time 100m dash record.

Up Next:

Qualifying student-athletes will advance to the final stage of the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field…