Looking to build off the momentum established earlier this month at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships the Texas State track and field team set its sights on the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with one goal in mind: qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The West Prelims took place over four days from May 24-27 at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Texas State sent 17 individual athletes and three relay teams to compete in a total of 22 events at the meet.
Day One
On the first day of the West Prelims freshman long jumper Chris Preddie became the first Bobcat to qualify for the NCAA Championships. 
Preddie who was coming off a first-place finish in the men’s long jump competition at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships picked up where he left off.
Preddie’s leap of 7.66 meters/25-1.75 was enough to punch his ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. The leap was the ninth-best in the field of 48 competitors. 
By qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships Preddie becomes the second Texas State long jumper in the past three years to accomplish the feat.
Graduate student thrower Grady Leonard set a Texas State record in the men’s hammer throw with a toss of 67.14m/220-3. Although the throw was impressive it fell three feet shy of the required distance needed to advance Leonard to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Day Two
The second day of the West Prelims saw another Texas State freshman qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Freshman thrower Elisabet Runarsdottir continued her historic season with a toss of 63.75 meters/209-2 on her final attempt of the day to place ninth in the women’s hammer throw. Like Preddie Runarsdottir also entered the West Prelims fresh off a first-place finish at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championships.
With her toss, Runarsdottir became just the second women’s hammer thrower in Texas State history to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Runarsdottir is also the first Texas State female freshman to advance to the national meet in any event since the 2005 season.
Day Three
The third day of the West Prelims was not as kind to Texas State as the previous two as several Bobcats failed to qualify in their respective events.
Redshirt senior sprinter Ashton Callahan finished 19^th in the men’s 200-meter quarterfinals with a time of 21.04. 
Senior sprinter Daniel Harrold placed 16^th in the men’s 100-meter hurdles quarterfinals clocking a time of 13.84. Harrold’s time despite being tied for the ninth-fastest in school history fell short of the required time to advance to the semifinal round by less than two-tenths of a second.
Freshman jumper Aiden Hayes registered a clearance of 2.09 meters/6-10.25 in the men’s high jump to finish tied for 23^rd place. 
Both the men’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams also did not make the cut for an NCAA Championships appearance. The men’s 4×100 finished 23^rd with a time of 39.95 while the 4×400 placed 17^th by clocking 3:07.83.
Day Four
The fourth and final day of the West Prelims was dominated by redshirt senior sprinter Sedrickia Wynn. 
Wynn clocked a time of 13.16 in the women’s 100-meter hurdles to finish in the 12^th and final spot for the national meet. Wynn’s time was the fourth-fastest in program history as she becomes the first Bobcat to advance to the national meet in the women’s 100-meter hurdles since Olympian Brigitte Foster-Hylton in 1998.
This marks the first time in Wynn’s illustrious collegiate career she has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.  
Wynn was also a part of the women’s 4×100 relay team that ran a school record of 44.09 but finished outside the qualifying top-12 spots in 16^th place.
Wynn also set a school record time of 11.24 in the women’s 100-meter sprint but finished in 13^th by five-hundredths of a second. 
In the women’s 200-meter sprint, Wynn clocked a time of 23.12 which is the 10^th fastest in program history to finish in 17^th place.
Senior jumper Katherine Stuckly who was making her third consecutive West Prelims appearance capped off her Texas State career with a season-best height in the women’s high jump with a clearance of 1.77 meters/5-9.75 to finish in 18^th place.
With the West Prelims in the books, the focus now shifts to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Preddie, Runarsdottir and Wynn will all be representing the maroon and gold at the national meet. This is the most athletes Texas State has sent to the NCAA Outdoor Championships since the 2017 season.
The championships will be hosted in Austin, Texas beginning June 7 and ending June 10.