Three more athletes from the University of Washington track and field team secured their places at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on May 30 during the final day of the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Chloe Foerster and Julia David-Smith qualified for nationals, while Chloe Thomas added a 5,000-meter berth to her earlier qualification in the 10,000 meters. The Huskies will now have 17 entries at the NCAA Championships in Eugene from June 10-13.
Foerster earned her third consecutive trip to the NCAA Outdoor semifinals in the women’s 1,500 meters by finishing seventh overall with a time of 4:11.68. “She got a bit stuck on the rail after runners moved around her on the bell lap, and she came across in seventh place overall in 4:11.68. It was close, but just enough to nab the final time qualifier,” according to event coverage.
David-Smith finished sixth in her heat of the women’s 5,000 meters with a time of 15:39.39 and had to wait for results from another heat before confirming her qualification based on time. Thomas also placed sixth overall in her heat with a mark of 15:31.18—fast enough for both runners to advance as time qualifiers.
The article notes that Washington’s total of 17 entries is its second-highest under the current qualifying format since it began in 2010; only last season’s total of twenty entries surpassed this year’s number.
Other performances included Mia Cochran narrowly missing advancement by two spots each in both her events—the women’s 1,500 meters and later placing eighteenth in her heat for the women’s 5k—and freshman Chloe Symon setting a Canadian U20 National Record but missing out on qualifying for nationals by one place with a personal-best time of 2:02.38.
Sofia Cosculluela demonstrated strong form ahead of competing at nationals by running one of school history’s fastest wind-aided times (13.17 seconds) during quarterfinals for women’s hurdles.
