Completed Event: Track and Field at Bryan Clay Invite on April 16, 2026 ,
Final
Track and Field
Bryan Clay Invite
Iowa State University Athletics
Five Cyclones Secure NCAA Championships Trips
05.27.2022 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – Iowa State track and field opened its NCAA Championships qualifying account in a big way on Friday at the NCAA West Preliminaries, with five Cyclones securing their trips to Eugene and the NCAA Outdoor Championships in two weeks.
Nehemia Too took down the Cyclones' school record in the 1,500-meter run to earn his trip to Eugene. Kevin Sakson broke out a personal best throw in flight one of the discus to make it to the Championships. In the 5,000-meter run, Ryan Ford ensured his season and career continued with a personal best to grab the last qualifying spot to Eugene. Lastly, the Cyclones continued their strong efforts in the 800-meter run with Cebastian Gentil earning his first trip to Eugene, while Jason Gomez is headed back for a second-straight season.
A two-time All-American on ISU's indoor distance medley relay, Nehemia Too had just missed out on the Cyclones' school record in the 1,500m earlier in the season at the Bryan Clay Invitational with his 3:39.27 The ingredients were there for a new standard on Friday, with a fast field joining Too. The Kenyan positioned himself with the lead group the whole way and made a move late on to try and get ahead of Colorado State's Jacob Brueckman at the line, but came up a little short, getting sixth in his heat in 3:39.15.
However, it would be more than enough to advance him to Eugene on time, as the winner of the second head crossed in 3:42.69. Too became Iowa State's first NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifier in the 1,500m since Brandon Rooney made it in 2010. The school record that went down previously belonged to Steve Green, who ran it while representing Jamaica at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
The NCAA West Prelims had not been kind to Sakson, as the Estonian fouled out of both the discus and shot put in 2021, and fouled out of the shot put again on Wednesday. He ensured history would not repeat itself on his first throw, which was a season-best 181-1 (55.20m) and was good enough to keep him in second heading into his final throw.
Sakson got the crowd in the northwest of the facility involved on his final throw and delivered, launching a personal best 187-10 (57.26m) to be the best of flight one. The Estonian remained atop the leaderboard after flight two, with only one competitor in the second flight getting within a meter of his mark. He ended up making it with ease, as only four men from flight three went past Sakson and he became the first Cyclone locked into Eugene.
His throw, a PR by nearly a foot, also moved him up two spots to No. 7 in ISU history. Sakson is also ISU's first men's discus NCAA Championships qualifier since Jamal Cann made it in 2005.
Ryan Ford missed out on his first chance to advance to Eugene on Wednesday in the 10,000 meters and was not leaving another opportunity behind. Ford took his time to move up the pack, working his way through the field and keep himself within contact of the lead pack. It was not until 1,100 meters to go that he finally moved into the top-seven. Though he faded back of the leaders in the final two laps, Ford and the field had done enough that his seventh-place finish in the second heat was enough to claim the second and final timed qualifier spot in a personal best 13:34.79. Ford's time was an eight-second personal best and moves him up to No. 6 in Iowa State history for the event.
Ezekiel Rop hung with the leaders for the majority of the second heat before settling for 18th place in 13:44.33. Chad Johnson closed out an outstanding track and field season in 33rd place in 14:06.65.
Iowa State showed its strength in the 800m run once again by sending a pair to Eugene in 2022. Gomez will be a repeat visitor, having made it in 2021 and will again in 2022. Gomez was able to make his move into an auto-qualifying spot on the backstretch of the second lap and passed Oregon's Luis Peralta on the front-stretch for good measure and ensure his trip in 1:47.62.
Gentil was sixth with 200 meters to go and pulled off a massive final quarter of the race, taking the way outside route to lane four and (by the finish line) lane five to win his section and earn his first career NCAA Outdoor Championships trip in 1:47.41.
While his season came to an end on Friday, Peter Smith gave it absolutely everything he had in the 800-meter run. In the same section as Gomez, Smith was not able to go with Gomez's main move, but like at the Big 12 Championships two weeks ago, launched a hellacious final 50 meters and only missed out on the third auto-qualifying slot by 0.13 seconds, posting a personal best 1:48.05 that crushed his previous best of 1:48.85 and finishing 16th overall.
Gable Sieperda closed out his season in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 21st place finish in 8:50.65. He spent the first lap-and-a-half at the back before beginning to work his way up the field and to his eventual heat finish of seventh.
Up Next
Iowa State's women's squad closes out NCAA West Preliminaries tomorrow, with field events beginning at 1 p.m. and running events starting at 5 p.m. A list of ISU's competitors tomorrow is listed below.
1 p.m. – Women's Discus (Emily March)
5:40 p.m. – Women's 3,000m Steeplechase (Janette Schraft)
6:15 p.m. – Women's 100m Hurdles Quarterfinal (Kaylyn Hall)
Iowa State Results
800m Run Quarterfinal (M): 1. Moad Zahafi, Texas Tech – 1:44.65; 6. Cebastian Gentil, Iowa State – 1:47.41; 9. Jason Gomez, Iowa State – 1:47.62; 16. Peter Smith, Iowa State – 1:48.05
1,500m Run Quarterfinal (M): 1. Luke Houser, Washington – 3:38.06; 6. Nehemia Too, Iowa State – 3:39.15
5,000m Run (M): 1. Brian Fay, Washington – 13:28.41; 7. Ryan Ford, Iowa State – 13:34.79; 18. Ezekiel Rop, Iowa State – 13:44.33; 33. Chad Johnson, Iowa State – 14:06.65
3,000m Steeplechase (M): 1. Matthew Wilkinson, Minnesota – 8:32.61; 21. Gable Sieperda, Iowa State – 8:50.65
Discus Throw (M): 1. Mykolas Alekna, California – 212-10 (64.87m); 5. Kevin Sakson, Iowa State – 187-10 (57.26m)
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