Cyclones Ready for NCAA Outdoor Championships

AMES, Iowa – The road has finally made it to Eugene. For Iowa State track and field, the work across an entire season culminates this week at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by the University of Oregon at Hayward Field. The Cyclones will have six entries, with competitors in action on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Iowa State's schedule for the week is below (all times Central):
Wednesday, June 8 (ESPNU)
6:46 PM – Men's 1,500m Semifinal (Nehemia Too)
8:14 PM – Men's 800m Semifinal (Cebastian Gentil, Jason Gomez)

Friday, June 10 (Field: ESPN3; Run: ESPN2)
7:35 PM – Men's Discus (Kevin Sakson)
8:12 PM – Men's 1,500m Final (Nehemia Too)*
9:14 PM – Men's 800m Final (Cebastian Gentil, Jason Gomez)*
9:55 PM – Men's 5,000m Run (Ryan Ford)

Saturday, June 11 (Field: ESPN3)
4:05 PM – Women's Discus (Emily March)

*Too, Gentil & Gomez need to advance out of Wednesday's semifinals to compete on Friday

Live results will be provided by Flash Results, here.

Five of ISU's six competitors this year are NCAA Outdoor Championships rookies. The lone returnee is Jason Gomez, who also made it in the 800m in 2021. Gomez is coming off a strong NCAA West Prelims two weeks ago, running two smart races to ensure his trip to Hayward Field. Gomez will be joined in heat one of the 800m on Wednesday by Cebastian Gentil, who used a huge finish at NCAA West Prelims to secure his trip to Eugene. Gentil has ISU's best time in the 800m this year, going 1:46.97 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.

Also in action on Wednesday will be Nehemia Too in the 1,500m run. Too earned his trip to Eugene via a school-record 3:39.15 at the NCAA West Prelims. Too has stepped up on the big stage this season, at the Indoor Championships in March, he ran the fastest anchor leg in the field to take ISU's distance medley relay team from 10th to sixth place and earn First Team All-America honors.

On the note of speaking up on the big stage, Ryan Ford's huge personal best in the 5,000m at NCAA West Prelims allowed him to continue his collegiate career to Eugene and his first NCAA Track and Field Championships appearance. After not finishing the 10K at West Prelims, Ford came back with a personal best 13:34.79 to be the final qualifier out of the region to Eugene via an eight-second PR in an event he was the No. 42 seed in.

In the field, Kevin Sakson launched his own big personal best at West Prelims to rise up from the No. 47 seed in the region and earn his first NCAA Championships trip in the discus and the first by a Cyclone since 2005. The next day, teammate Emily March took the steady and consistent approach to secure her first NCAA Championships trip and first by a Cyclone in the women's discus since 2003.

Players Mentioned

Ryan Ford

Cebastian Gentil

Jason Gómez

Emily March

Kevin Sakson

Nehemia Too

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics