MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's track and field team begins the road to the NCAA championships this weekend at the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas. The meet runs Thursday to Saturday and features 13 Badgers that look to qualify for the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
 

Wisconsin at NCAA West Preliminary
Date	Thursday, May 25 - Saturday, May 27
Location	Austin, Texas | Mike A. Myers Stadium
Meet Info	Schedule | Heat Sheets
Follow	Live Results | Live Video @BadgerTrackXC

First to don the Cardinal and White are pole vaulters Taylor Amann and Chinne Okoronkow as the duo open up the competition at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday. Amann ranks 22nd while Okoronkwo is seeded 47th in the event. A junior, Amann will be competing in her third-straight NCAA regional meet and will look to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the second time.
 
Thursday afternoon true freshman Emma Fitzgerald will get her first taste of NCAA competition in the javelin as the No. 11 seed. This season Fitzgerald broke the school record in the javelin with a heave of 170-6. She ranks 11th heading into the NCAA West Preliminary after collecting the bronze medal in the event at the 2017 Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
 
Brenna Detra is the first Badger to take the track, as she will run in the first round of the 400 hurdles at 4:30 PM. The junior hurdler has a season-best time in the 400 hurdles of 57.64, which ranks seventh in the west region this season. Detra is fresh off a third-place finish at the Big Ten outdoor meet and eyes her first trip to Eugene.
 
The last race for a Badger on Thursday will be the 10,000 meters. Michele Lee and Shaelyn Sorensen will toe the line two weeks after Lee crushed her personal record at the conference championships, finishing ninth in 34:30.25, while Sorensen ran her first collegiate 10K in 34:42.03 to place 11th.
 
Friday kicks off with Kennedy Blahnik in the discus as she ranks third in program history, throwing a personal-best 171-6 earlier this month at the Wisconsin Alumni Classic.
 
High jumper Emma Haugen is coming off of a tremendous showing earlier this month at the Wisconsin Alumni Classic, where she became only the second Badger to clear six feet in the high jump with her jump of 6-0. An NCAA West Preliminary Round qualifier last year, she ranks eighth in the event heading into the meet this weekend. Haugen will compete at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
 
Sprinter Ebony McClendon competes the first round of the 100 on Thursday and the 200 meters on Friday night. McClendon is tied for first in UW history in the 100 meters and ranks third all-time in the 200 meters. Her best chance for advancing to the national meet is in the 200 meters as she ranks 28th in the west.
 
On the last day of competition Okoronkwo will compete again in the triple jump. A true freshmen, Okoronkwo set her personal best at the Wisconsin Alumni Classic earlier this month with a mark of 42-6 ¾, which ranks third in program history and makes the Seattle native the No. 20 seed in the west.
 
The last field athletes to compete will be Blahnik and Banke Oginni in the shot put. The duo enters the meet seeded 23rd and 24th and rank third and sixth all-time at Wisconsin, respectively.
 
The final event of the NCAA West Preliminary Round for the Badgers will be the 5000 meters. Junior Sarah Disanza enters the meet as the No. 11 seed in the event after running a personal-best time of 15:55.57 earlier this year. Disanza looks to qualify for her first NCAA outdoor meet after finishing third in the 5000 meters at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships. She will be joined by freshman Alicia Monson and sophomore Amy Davis in the event. All three scored points for Wisconsin at the Big Ten meet, as Disanza finished third, Monson took fourth and Davis crossed the line seventh.