COLLEGE STATION, Texas—South Dakota pole vaulters Ethan Bray and Marshall Faurot are moving on to the NCAA Championships, qualifying Wednesday afternoon at the NCAA West Preliminary inside E.B. Cushing Stadium.
 
Both Bray and Faurot had first-attempt makes at the competition's final height of 17-10 ½ (5.45m) to secure their spot in the championship field. Faurot had three personal best bars during the competition. Bray, a two-time All-American indoors, qualifies for his first NCAA Outdoor Championships. Faurot punches a ticket to his first-ever NCAA Championship meet. The itinerary of the preliminary round is unique in that the competition ends when 12 or fewer vaulters clear a height and the field is set. The finals are set for June 9-12 at the newly remodeled Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
 
The Coyotes had five entries in the men's pole vault at the preliminaries, the most of any school in either region. Freshman Eerik Haamer finished 16th with a height of 17-6 ½. He was perfect through the first three heights, but injured his hand on his first attempt at 17-8 ½ and was knocked out of the competition. Freshman Tre Young took 33rd with a height of 16-10 ¾ and senior Kaleb Ellis was 39th with a height of 16-4 ¾.
 
In the running events, all three of South Dakota's sprinters just narrowly missed qualifying for the quarterfinals.
 
Redshirt-freshman Dylan Kautz missed qualifying for Friday by one one-thousandth of a second in the 100 meters. He clocked 10.370, tying his personal best, while the third runner in his heat edged him out with a time of 10.369. He had the 28th-fastest time in the field, but the top-three athletes in each heat earned an automatic spot in the final for the 100 meters.
 
Freshman Demar Francis was the first athlete out in the men's 400 meters, clocking 46.79 seconds. The final qualifying time was 46.70 seconds.
 
Redshirt-freshman Hugo Morvan finished 29th with a time of 14.01 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles. The 24th time into the quarterfinals was 13.90 seconds.
 
The duo of redshirt-junior Matt Slagus and redshirt-sophomore Jessie Sullivan kicked off the day's competition in the men's hammer throw. Slagus finished 41st with a mark of 188-5, while Sullivan took 44th with a mark of 177-4.
 
 
South Dakota's women take the stage on Thursday at the NCAA West Preliminary.