WICHITA – The Wichita State track and field team has qualified 11 athletes to the NCAA West Preliminaries, the NCAA announced Thursday. The West Preliminary Round takes place May 24-27 in Sacramento, Calif.
 
At the NCAA West Preliminaries, the top 48 athletes in the west region compete for a spot at the NCAA Championships June 7-10 in Austin, Texas. The top 12 athletes in each event move on to the championship meet to compete for All-American honors.
 
Brady Palen returns to the west preliminary meet for the third-straight season, this time as the No. 5 seed. A season ago, Palen missed qualifying to the national meet by five places (17^th place) after finishing 44^th in 2021. Palen cleared 2.14m/7'0.25" at the conference championship to place second and earn all-conference recognition and holds a personal-best of 2.19m/7'2.25" from the Kansas Relays.
 
From the Shockers' No. 6 nationally-ranked women's high jump squad, Destiny Masters and Marissa Jensen enter the west preliminary with the Nos. 11 and 19 seeds, respectively. Masters is coming off an American Athletic Conference heptathlon victory in which she cleared 1.80m/5'10.75" in the heptathlon high jump and a fourth-place high jump finish (1.79m/5'10.5"). She jumped her personal best of 1.83m/6'0" at the Kansas Relays in April and will make her second trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries in two outdoor season efforts. Jensen cleared a personal-best 1.79m/5'10.5" at the conference championship, earning the bronze medal and all-conference recognition.
 
Yuben Goncalves is the lone Shocker to qualify to the regional meet in multiple events as he earned the No. 20 seed in the 400-meter hurdles and the No. 43 seed in the triple jump. His personal-best hurdles time of 51.11 from the Shocker Open gave him his first bid in the event, while his triple jump season debut at the AAC Outdoor Championships was enough to qualify for the second-straight year in the event.
 
Toby Penner and Bryan Haney will join Goncalves in the 400-meter hurdles as the Nos. 25 and 46 seeds, respectively, after both men ran personal bests at the conference meet.
 
Clayton Duchatschek earned his first trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries, entering as the No. 25 seed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with his personal-best time of 8:45.98 from the Drake Relays.
 
Matty Everett will make his third-straight NCAA regional appearance in the discus after placing 27^th at the NCAA West Preliminaries a year ago and finishing 31^st in the NCAA East Preliminaries while competing for Memphis in 2021. Everett's personal best of 57.38m/188'3" from the Kansas Relays gives him the No. 27 seed.
 
Zarrey Sams will compete in her first NCAA West Preliminaries, qualifying as the No. 45 seed in the long jump with her personal-best jump of 6.15m/20'2.25" from the Rock Chalk Classic.
 
Samantha Marx enters the meet as the No. 46 seed in the javelin, coming off an all-conference performance at the conference championship, where she placed third with a personal-best throw of 46.82m/153'7".

*UPDATE* - After a medical scratch in the men's triple jump, Harry Barthelemy was added to the start list. Barthelemy's all-conference jump of 15.13m/49'7.75" ultimately became enough to send him to the west preliminaries after having only competed in three outdoor meets this season.

---

NCAA WEST PRELIMINARY ROUND QUALIFIERS
Men
Yuben Goncalves – [20] 400-meter hurdles, [43] triple jump
Toby Penner – [25] 400-meter hurdles
Bryan Haney – [46] 400-meter hurdles
Clayton Duchatschek – [25] 3,000-meter steeplechase
Brady Palen – [5] high jump
Harry Barthelemy - [48] triple jump
Matty Everett – [27] discus
 
Women
Destiny Masters – [11] high jump
Marissa Jensen – [19] high jump
Zarrey Sams – [45] long jump
Samantha Marx – [46] javelin

---

Wednesday
8:20 p.m. PT/10:20 p.m. CT - M 400-meter hurdles - first round

Thursday
1:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. CT - W javelin
6:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. CT - W long jump

Friday
1:00 p.m. PT/3:00 p.m. CT - M discus
2:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. CT - M high jump
5:40 p.m. PT/7:40 p.m. CT - M 3,000-meter steeplechase
6:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. CT - M triple jump
7:25 p.m. PT/9:25 p.m. CT - M 400-meter hurdles - quarterfinals

Saturday
2:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. CT - W high jump