INDIANAPOLIS The NCAA on Tuesday, May 14 released the official qualifiers list for the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor Men's and Women's Track & Field Championships, a select list that includes 10 from Western Colorado's program.
Highlighting the qualifiers are four Mountaineers who earned inclusion in two events each, and five who will enter the May 23-25 meet in Emporia, Kansas, seeded within the top eight.
In the women's track events,
Allison Beasley has qualified for and is seeded sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 15th in the 5,000-meter run. At the 2023 outdoor championship meet she placed fifth in the steeplechase to earn All-America honors, and 10th in the 5,000.
Another double entrant is
Leah Taylor. She will be seeded ninth in both the 1,500 and 5,000m runs. Taylor earned All-America honors earlier this season at the NCAA indoor championship meet, placing sixth in the mile, as well as last spring when she placed third in the 1,500 at the outdoor meet.
Both
Simon Kelati and
Tyler Nord will double up at the national meet, racing in the men's 1,500 and 5,000.
Kelati has the second-fastest time in the country in the 5,000 this spring and will be seeded ninth in the 1,500. Seventh and fourth, respectively, in those two events at last year's outdoor championships, Kelati is coming off an All-American indoor season in which he captured the national title in the 3,000m run and was third in the 5,000 at the 2024 NCAA indoor meet.
Nord enters the 2024 outdoor championship seeded fourth in the 5,000 and 14th in the 1,500. He placed seventh in the 3,000 at the 2024 indoor NCAA meet.
Western's two other athletes heading to Kansas with top-eight seeds are
Kaiya Firor and
Ali Aldrich.
Firor has posted the fifth-fastest time in the country this spring in the women's 400m hurdles and was an All-American in placing fourth in the event at the 2023 outdoor championships.
Aldrich has the third farthest toss this year in the women's shot put, an event she placed eighth in at the 2023 outdoor meet, also earning All-America recognition.
On the oval,
Emma Kjellsen,
Lauren Willson and
Eddie Siuda will represent Western in their respective races. Kjellsen is seeded 11th and Willson 16th in the women's 1,500, and Siuda is 12th in the men's 3,000m steeplechase.
Kjellsen returns to outdoor nationals after placing 17th in the 1,500 in 2023, while Willson and Siuda are making their first appearances at the outdoor NCAA championship.
Joining Aldrich in representing the Mountaineers in the field events will be
Eireann Donohoe. A 2022 NCAA outdoor championship participant in the women's triple jump, Donohoe will once again hit the runway in the same event in 2024 with the 17th seed.
The championship meet — with 754 competitors, 377 each of men and women — will be hosted by Emporia State (Kan.) University at the Hornets' Francis G. Welch Stadium.
