Track & field preview

Event: NCAA Division I West Region Championships

Host: Cal State Northridge

Where: Matador Track Complex – Northridge, Calif.

When: Today and Saturday, all day

Who to watch: To qualify for this weekend’s competition, athletes must surpass the regional qualifying mark in their event just once.

UC Davis‘ Polly Gnepa has done it eight times.

The 6-foot-1 junior out of Turlock, Calif. has spent the season making a laughing stock of the 14.30-second qualifying time in the 110-meter high hurdles, highlighted by a school-record time of 14.01 seconds on May 10 at the Aggie Twilight.

Did you know? In its first year in Division I, UC Davis is new to the concept of regionals. But so is everyone else.

The concept of regionals is in just its fourth year in existence. Before, athletes could qualify for the NCAA Division Championships based on regular season marks. Now, they meet one weekend of the year, with the top finishers advancing with either automatic or at-large bids to the national championships.

“The regional concept means toe-to-toe on one day, let’s see what you got,” said women’s head coach Deanne Vochatzer. “That’s what’s exciting about track – toe-to-toe competition. It’s like sudden death. You either got it or you don’t.“

Preview: UC Davis may be competing in Northridge, but the athletes and coaches‘ minds will be on Des Moines, Iowa – the site of the NCAA Championships.

“That’s what our focus is on right now: How are we going to get past regionals?” Vochatzer said. “[They’re] just not going down there to be in the moment. They‘re going down with focus to try and get past the moment.“

Along with Gnepa, seven other Aggies will be looking to punch their ticket to Iowa: Jah Bennett in the high jump, Kim Conley and Kaitlin Gregg in the 5,000, Ray Green in the triple jump, Matt Swarbrick in the discus, Jazz Trice in the 110-meter high hurdles and Sirena Williams in the 100 hurdles.

“Obviously we always like to have more, and next year we plan on that, but we are very proud of the eight that are competing,” Vochatzer said.

With the region’s third-best qualifying time of 16 minutes, 23.58 seconds in the 5,000, Conley is the highest-ranked Aggie heading into competition.

“If you look at it mathematically, Kimmy is probably in the best spot right now,” Vochatzer said. “But still it won’t be easy – it will still be a tough race for both her and Kaitlin.“

Any UC Davis athlete who finishes in the top five in an individual event will receive an automatic invitation to the NCAA Championships. At-large bids will also be announced on Sunday.

–Michael Gehlken