Wichita State juniors Brady Palen, Lucy Ndungu and Destiny Masters all qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the men’s high jump, women’s 10,000-meter and women’s high jump, respectively, during the NCAA West Preliminaries.

The NCAA West Preliminaries, held from Wednesday to Saturday, were all first-round and qualifying events for the NCAA Outdoor Championships starting on June 5.

During the men’s high jump, Palen landed in 10th place after clearing 2.17 meters, resulting in what will be his second-straight appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Ndungu qualified for the women’s 10,000-meter finals at the Outdoor Championships after setting a time of 34:23.39 during the semifinals, less than a minute from the leader’s pace and good enough for 11th place.

Masters squeaked by during the women’s high jump, clearing 1.81 meters and taking the last qualification spot. Masters is the first woman in Shocker track and field history to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championship in back-to-back seasons for high jump.

In the men’s 400-meter hurdles first round, sophomore Bryan Haney finished less than .2 seconds away from qualifying for the quarterfinals after setting a time of 51.62 seconds. Junior Marissa Jensen fell .05 meters short of qualifying for the women’s high jump after sticking the landing at 1.76 meters.

With preliminary and qualification rounds in the books, the three Shocker athletes will get ready to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, from Wednesday, June 5 to Saturday, June 8.