FRESNO, Calif. – Six individuals from the Fresno State track and field team are set to compete in four events at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Fayetteville, Ark., that will be held May 25-28 at John McDonnell Field.
Four of the six will compete in the hammer on May 26 at 8 a.m. PT. Last week, Hannah Chappell, Amelia DiPaola, Nadia Maffo and Tahj’nee Thurston combined for a Mountain West hammer throw record 25 points at the championship meet. Led by Maffo who ranks 12th in the West at 66.56m, Fresno State is one of two programs in the country with four hammer throwers who have eclipsed 60 meters in 2022.
For the second straight year, the 'Dogs will send a javelin thrower to regionals as Rhiannon Genilla competes on May 26 at noon PT. The Mountain West champ ranks No. 35 in the West at 48.20m.
Fresno State's final participant is its youngest in Cierra Jackson. The redshirt freshman will double in the shot put (May 26, 5 p.m. PT) and discus (May 28, 11 a.m. PT). In the West, Jackson is No. 5 in the discus at 58.57m and No. 37 in the shot put at 15.81m.
The preliminary competitions are scheduled for May 25-28. Indiana will host the East Preliminary and Arkansas will host the West Preliminary. With 48 competitors per gender in each event in each region, the top 12 qualifiers out of these two regions in the field events will compete at the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships which are held from June 8-11 in Eugene, Ore.
In the field events, there are three attempts at each discipline during the regionals. The meet is split up by gender with women competing on Thursday and Saturday and the men competing on Wednesday and Friday.