Senior Lexi Evans and sophomore Ben Feyrer secured berths to the NCAA Outdoor Championships during Day 2 of the NCAA West Prelims in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on May 28. The Cal Poly track and field athletes overcame challenging weather conditions to earn their spots at nationals, which will take place in Eugene, Oregon, from June 10 to 13.
Feyrer was the first Mustang to qualify on Thursday. Seeded No. 18 in the West for men’s pole vault, he cleared heights of 17 feet, 1.5 inches (5.22 meters) on his first attempt and then vaulted over 17-7.25 (5.37m) on his second attempt before clearing a lifetime best of 17-11.25 (5.47m) on his third try. This performance placed him fourth overall at the West Prelims and marked him as the first Mustang since John Prader in 2012 to reach nationals in men’s pole vault.
Evans qualified under the lights in women’s pole vault by clearing an outdoor lifetime best of 14-6.25 (4.43m), surpassing her own school and Big West conference records with a tenth-place finish that avoided a jump-off situation. Her qualification makes her the first Mustang woman since Paula Serrano’s national championship win in 1999 to advance to nationals outdoors for this event.
Other Mustangs competing included junior Astrid Teran, who tied for thirty-first place in women’s pole vault; Kelli Gaffney, who finished thirty-first in the women’s ten thousand meters; and Camrenne Genilla, who placed forty-second in women’s javelin during her regionals debut.
With Travis Martin having already qualified for nationals earlier this week in men’s hammer throw, along with Evans and Feyrer’s performances Thursday, Cal Poly now has three qualifiers heading into nationals—matching last season’s total.
Six more Mustangs are set to compete for national berths on Friday: Chris Caudillo, Aidan McCarhty, Carson Smith (men’s fifteen hundred meters), Michael Chambers (men’s three thousand steeplechase), Dheeraj Gurusamy (men’s three thousand steeplechase), and Bryce Kueker (men’s three thousand steeplechase). Competition resumes at 3:15 PM PDT.
