SACRAMENTO—The University of Colorado track & field program had a successful showing in the final day of the NCAA West Preliminaries, sending two individuals and one relay team to the NCAA Outdoor Championship.
Abbey Glynn will be heading back to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400-meter hurdles for the second consecutive season. Glynn placed third amongst a field of 24, setting a new school record of 56.01. Her time improves on the 56.41 that had her seeded 12th to start the weekend and will move her inside the top 10 in the NCAA DI national rankings.
Ella Baran was the second individual to qualify for the championships, placing fifth amongst 45 runners with a time of 15:38.22 in the 5000-meter quarterfinal. She ran the fastest splits at the 4200 meters (1:14.13) and again at 4600 meters (1:11.42), helping her finish third in her heat with the top five automatically advancing. India Johnson and Kaitlyn Barthell also represented the Buffaloes in the event, placing 32nd and 35th respectively.
The women’s 4×400 team of Grace Jenkins, Emma Pollak, Avery McMullen and Glynn clocked a 3:33.54 to place 11th and punch its ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championship. Glynn ran the anchor leg in 51.20 and passed Nevada in the final sprint to the finish to claim one of two time qualifiers. The team’s time is also good for second all-time on the CU performance list.
Gabrielle Orie placed 15th in a field of 48 with a time of 10:07.30 in the steeplechase quarterfinals. She missed out on qualifying for nationals by three spots
The Buffs’ first race of the day was the 1500-meter semifinals. Bailey Hertenstein led the pack early in heat one, running the first 300 meters in 51.39. She was unable to keep the pace up and finished in 4:18.94, placing 19th.
Allie Routledge opened the day in the high jump. She cleared the first two heights on her first attempts. Routledge needed to go to her third attempt to clear at 1.77m (5-9.75). She struck out on the next interval of 1.82m (5-11.5), placing 19th.
Colorado will close the season out at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas (June 8-10). Johnson, who advanced in the women’s 5000-meters on Thursday, will join Glynn, Baran and the 4×400 relay as the Buffs contingent.
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