Eight Bearcats to make trip to NCAA Outdoor Championships
May 21—As eight Bearcats prepare for nationals next week, head coach Brandon Masters said there's one goal in mind.
"This team does a really good job of overcoming expectations," Masters said. "Our goal is not necessarily a time in these championship meets. It is always about overcoming the ranking we have going in and they've done an amazing job of doing that."
Ranked 13th in the nation this spring, the Bearcat women's 4x400-meter relay squad of Bailey Blake, Kaylee Harp, Haley Luna, and Chloe Saenz has defied all odds.
The quartet comprised of solely underclassmen posted a time of 3:44.69 at the MIAA Championships, marking the second-best time in Bearcat outdoor history and earning them an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
"To think that the (4x400-meter relay squad) is going to the national championship with some of our studs on the sidelines right now is really exciting," Masters said. "We've had some really great progress through the year with some of our kids and they're in a position now to then go to the national championship and some of them for the first time, which is really exciting."
Harp and Blake will also be competing in the 800 meters at nationals, while Saenz also qualified in the women's 400-meter race.
Two other Bearcat women, Sarah Prickett and Caroline Cunningham, will be making their first trip to the big stage.
Prickett produced the No. 20-ranked time (13.90) in the nation in the 100-meter hurdles to earn a spot. Cunningham posted the No. 7-ranked time in the nation this spring in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a clocking of 10:29.75 at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
Cunningham said it's been a long journey for her to get to this point.
"I was close to qualifying for nationals in cross country in the fall. I was about less than a second out of the mile indoors for nationals and so to finally, this last outdoor season, to be able to get in there, I'm really excited," Cunningham said.
Two men will don the Bearcat green and white in both of their second-straight appearances at nationals: Dakota Schmidt and Reece Smith.
Competing in the javelin, Schmidt is coming off of earning second-team all-America honors at last year's nationals with a 12th-place finish.
Qualifying for both the 5,000-meter race and 3,000-meter steeplechase, Smith looks to capture back-to-back all-America honors in the steeplechase while he'll be making his first appearance in the 5,000-meter race at the outdoor championships.
After overcoming an injury, Smith said returning to the big stage has been months in the works.
"There was several months where I couldn't do anything with my injury. It was a stress reaction to my femur so basically just had to take time off, can't do anything and unfortunately the competition doesn't really wait for so you just like catch up. So finally, we're back to like a competitive state which is really nice and exciting," Smith said.
Capping off their long season in the ultimate way, the Bearcats look to put it all on the line, and Masters believes they've done the work to propel them to success.
"Reece in particular, he's way up the list. Caroline's way up the list. I feel really comfortable with both of those to making a final," Masters said. "Some of our other kids are down the list a little bit, but I have them prepared and ready to go. They're peaking at the right time. So it's just about survive and advance with all the kids. They got to make the finals, and that's top eight or nine, and we move on."
Nationals will take place in Allendale, Michigan from May 26 to 28.
Micaela Dea can be reached at micaela.dea@newspressnow.com.
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