The Western Oregon Track & Field team earned one NCAA Nationals automatic marks, three provisional qualifiers and had one event win as they competed at two events in the Bay Area at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitational.
 
STANFORD INVITATIONAL
Two indoor All-Americans, David Ribich and Dustin Nading, made their debut in the 1500m on Cobb Track on "The Farm" and both did not disappoint. Nading raced in the earlier block of heats in the 1500 and posted an outdoor provisional qualifying time of 3:50.45, a top-10 time so far in the nation. Ribich grabbed an early spot to the NCAA Championships in Florida posting an automatic qualifying time of 3:43.77, the fastest time in the country so far.
 
SAN FRANCISCO STATE DISTANCE CARNIVAL
North of Palo Alto, WOU athletes competing on the first day of the SF State Distance Carnival also had personal bests and qualifying marks. Alani Troutman wasted no time posting the winning mark of 7.26m (23-10) on his first attempt in the long jump. Troutman's mark is a NCAA provisional mark and puts him into the WOU top-10 list. He also fared well in placing fifth (1.84m) in the high jump while Connor Reinke finished second overall clearing 1.99m on his first attempt.
 
In running events, Suzanne Van De Grift nabbed a provisional qualifying time in her first go-around at 1500m with a time of 4:31.95, the third best Division II time in the meet. Justin Crosswhite went sub-four minutes is the 1500m with a personal best effort of 3:59.86 while Thomas Normandeau crossed the finish line at 4:00.58.
 
In the triple jump, Kathryn Pitts hit 10.50m to finish ninth on the women's side. The men's long jump saw Kolton Koenig-Rhode place sixth at 12.84m.
 
Western Oregon will be back in the Bay Area for day two at both the Distance Carnival and the Stanford Invitational while another group of athletes will head to McMinnville, Ore. for the Jenn Bowman Memorial Invitational at Linfield.