By Bob Kirkpatrick
Cheney Free Press 

Eastern athletes advance to West Preliminaries

 

Last updated 5/25/2022 at 3:11pm



CHENEY— Five Eastern Washington University athletes will compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Fayetteville, Ark., this week.

Katrina Terry, pole vault, Vernice Keyes, hammer throw and Maggie Nelson, javelin, take center stage on Thursday, May 26.

Bobby Say, triple jump and Alex Bishop, high jump, compete on Friday, May 27.

“I am very excited that Katrina Terry, Maggie Nelson, and Vernice Keyes get to cap of their senior seasons by qualifying for the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Meet,” Coach Marcia Mecklenburg said. “I feel all three of these athletes are capable of moving on to the finals—the NCAA National Championships. It will be fun to watch them compete.”

Mecklenburg said Terry is part of a group of exceptional pole vaulters at Eastern.

“She ended up vaulting the highest of the group over the course of the season and, with that mark, qualified for the West Regional Championships,” Mecklenburg said. “It’s her second trip to the NCAA West Regional Championships and the experience that she gained in that meet last year should help with her performance this year.”

Terry enters the regional meet ranked 37th.

Keyes ranks 46th in the West Region. She qualified for the preliminary round with a season-best toss of 191-0 at the Big Sky Conference Championships, which was good enough for second place.

“Vernice will be competing in her second NCAA West Regional Championships in the hammer,” Mecklenburg said. “She has had a challenging outdoor season as she worked to complete her final quarter of school and also worked to train through some nagging injuries.”

Nelson is making her first West Regional appearance. She’s ranked 33rd in the javelin competition. Nelson tossed a personal best of 158-8, putting her seventh all-time in program history.

“Maggie has had a dream Indoor and outdoor season. She set our school records in the pentathlon and heptathlon,” Mecklenburg said. “At the indoor conference championships she earned all Big Sky Conference placing third in the pentathlon and at the outdoor conference championships she was all Big Sky conference with her third place finish in both the heptathlon and the javelin.”

Men’s coach Dave Nielsen praised Alex Bishop and Bobby Say. He expects them to do well at the West Preliminaries.

“Both Alex and Bobby spent time last summer working hard to improve and their dedication has paid off,” Nielsen said. “They’ve had and awesome season are ready to take on this challenge. Both have a shot of moving on to the NCAA Championships.”

Bishop cleared 6-10 ¾ to place first in the high jump competition at the Oregon State High Performance Meet. He placed second at the Big Sky Championships, clearing 6-9 ¾. This is Bishop’s first appearance at West Preliminaries.

Say ranks 27th in the triple jump with a leap of 51-0 ¾. The mark is fifth all-time best at Eastern. Say claimed the top spot in the event at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in April with the leap. He placed fourth at the Big Sky Championships and is making his West Regional debut.

The top 12 men and women finishers in each event move on to the NCAA Division I Championships June 8-11 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

 

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