Iowa qualifies 16 events for NCAA Outdoor finals

It was a pretty good three days for the Iowa track and field team at the NCAA Western Regional qualifying meet.

The Hawkeyes will send 14 individuals to compete in 16 events at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The meet runs from June 6-9th. A full list of all the NCAA qualifiers can be found here.

Senior long and triple jumper Jahisha Thomas got things started on Thursday, winning the long jump with a personal best mark of 21 feet. That leap won the competition and is currently the third-best jump in the country. Her 44-2 jump in the triple finished second at the regional meet and is the 10th best mark in the country this season. It also broke a 10-year-old school record.

Quite a weekend for the senior.

Elsewhere, Laulauga Tausaga finished fifth in the shot and fourth in the discus. It’ll be the first time the sophomore will compete in the shot at the NCAA finals and the second year in a row for the discus.

Lagi (Tausaga) getting to Eugene in the shot put.... That was a big step for her,” Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said to HawkeyeSports. “Just getting here was a big step and then to be able to go to Eugene in the shot put, which is her second event in her mind.”

Reno Tuufuli is also headed on two events, winning the men’s discus with a toss of 196-10. The sophomore is also headed to the shot put finals after narrowly missing them last season. His qualifying mark in that event was 62 feet, 10.75 inches, which is a personal best.

In the running events, Chris Douglas ran a 13.88 (a PR) in the 110 hurdles to qualify. Mar’yea Harris took third in the 400 and was part of the 1600 relay (along with Antonio Woodard, Collin Hofacker and DeJuan Frye) that ran a season-best 3:03.69. That time is fifth in program history and ranks in the top-15 of the nation.

Brittany Brown is qualified in both the 100 and 200. The senior finished seventh in the 200 at the NCAA meet last season. Iowa will also have a representative in the women’s 400, as Briana Guillory took fourth with a time of 51.86, which is tied for the second-best mark in school history.

Here’s a complete list of the Hawks headed to Oregon:

(#) is their qualifying seed out of the 24 spots

Reno Tuufuli

Discus (2), shot put (16)

Briana Guillory

400-meter dash (12)

Laulauga Tausaga

Discus (4), shot put (14)

Mar’yea Harris

400-meter dash (14)

Matt Manternach

800-meter run (22)

Chris Douglas

110 (19) and 400-meter hurdles (21)

Brittany Brown

100 (23) and 200-meter dash (16)

Jahisha Thomas

Long (3) and triple jump (4)

William Dougherty

Decathlon (13)

Men’s 400-meter relay (4)

(Antonio Woodard, Collin Hofacker, Mar’yea Harris & DeJuan Frye)

Men’s 1600-meter relay (23)

(Woodard, O’Shea Wilson, Hofacker, & Harris)