VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota track and field received 19 entries to the NCAA West Preliminary held May 23-25 at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. The meet serves as the qualifying round for the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 5-8.
 
The Coyotes qualified seven pole vaulters, five throwers, four high jumpers and a pair of distance runners. Among the 18 athletes, 11 are making their second or third appearance at the meet.
 
Highlighting the crew are five student-athletes who return after making the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The reigning NCAA Outdoor Champion in the pole vault, junior Chris Nilsen enters with the top height in the NCAA West after jumping 19-2 ¼ at the Drake Relays. He broke a 22-year-old NCAA Championships meet record last spring by vaulting 19-1 ½ in Eugene, Oregon. Also returning from last year's NCAA meet are junior Zack Anderson (high jump), senior Lara Boman (hammer throw), junior Helen Falda (pole vault) and senior Ben Hammer (discus).
 
Joining Nilsen in the men's pole vault are classmates Ethan Bray and Nick Johnson. Bray enters the field with the eighth-best height at 18-1, while Johnson made the field after last weekend's personal best 17-1 ½ to move to 28th. Nilsen and Bray are both making their third appearance at the preliminaries. The trio make up the top men's pole vault squad in the nation as ranked by USTFCCCA.
 
Falda, a four-time All-American, makes her third appearance at the meet with the fourth-best height in the NCAA West at 14-5 ¼. She has a trio of Coyotes joining her as the part of the nation's No. 2 women's pole vault group. Senior Kimmy Peterson, a three-time NCAA Division II All-American at Sioux Falls, reaches the NCAA West Preliminaries for the first time after vaulting 14-1 ¾. She sits 12th in the field. Sophomore Landon Kemp is just behind in 13th at 14-1 ½ and is set to make her second appearance at the meet. Freshman Deidra Marrison makes the field with her jump of 13-9 ¼ for 26th. All four have vaulted personal records this spring.
 
South Dakota's seven pole vaulters qualifying for the first round is the most of any school in the nation.
 
A two-time All-American in the high jump, Anderson leaped a school and Summit League Championships record last weekend by clearing 7-4 ¼. Anderson's height is tied for fifth in the nation, but also sits fifth in the competitive NCAA West. He makes his third-straight appearance at the regional meet, leading a high jump crew with three other men making inaugural appearances. Freshman Jack Durst cleared 7-1 to tie for 12th in the region, while senior Deshonn Brown and sophomore Travis Larson both jumped 6-10 ¾ to enter in a tie for 38th in the NCAA West. The quartet moved to the top spot in the USTFCCCA's national event squad rankings this week after a series of personal bests.
 
South Dakota is the only school to send four men's high jumpers to either preliminary meet.
 
Boman, an All-American in the weight throw this indoor season, makes her second-straight appearance at the NCAA West Preliminary. She enters the field with the ninth-best mark in the hammer throw at 211-8.
 
Hammer is the only two-event qualifier for the Coyotes this spring. He makes his third appearance in the discus and will attempt to make the NCAA Championships for the second-straight year. Hammer sits 10th in the discus field with his season best of 188-6 and enters 22nd in the shot put with his throw of 61-3.
 
Senior Ethan Fenchel, who redshirted the outdoor season a year ago, makes his second appearance at the meet in the hammer throw. His mark of 208-9 ranks 25th in the field. Junior Kino Dunkley, a transfer from Nebraska who qualified for the NCAA West twice with the Huskers, makes his debut appearance in a Coyote uniform. He joins Hammer in the discus throw with his mark of 178-5 ranking 44th.
 
Rounding out the throws crew, junior Armand Khan makes his first appearance at the meet in the javelin. His best throw of 204-11 sits 40th in the field.
 
The distance duo of sophomore Jonna Bart and senior Eldon Warner return to the NCAA West Preliminary for the second-straight year. Bart sits 38th in the steeplechase with her time of 10:26.63. Her school record of 10:16.02 came from this meet a year ago. Warner sneaks into the field after 24 scratches in the men's 1,500 meters. He moved to 42nd with his time of 3:46.16.
 
The top-48 declared athletes in each event qualified for the preliminary meet. The 12-best finishers will punch their tickets to the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, on June 5-8.