SAN DIEGO – San Diego State has 15 athletes on the NCAA West Regional qualifying list, totaling 18 marks across 12 events in addition to one qualifier accepted directly into the NCAA Championships next month. This year's West Preliminary Championships will be hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ar. The NCAA announced the full list of qualifiers on their website Thursday morning.
The top 48 declared student-athletes are accepted into the first-round competitions for each individual event and the top 24 declared relay teams are accepted into the first-round competitions for each relay event. The top 24 declared student-athletes in the combined events are automatically accepted into the NCAA Championships.
Jenna Fee Feyerabend will be skipping the regional meet and headed straight to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore. next month. The junior's 5,750 points set at the Mt. SAC Relays in April ranks 13th in the country giving her a second straight appearance at the championship meet. A 2023 all-American, she finished 11th with 5,742 points in Austin, Texas last year.
Hannah Waller qualified in one track and one field event as an individual. She ranks 19th in the west region in the 100m (11.30) and 21st in long jump (21-1.25). The two-time all-conference performer has been to the regionals twice in her career, both as part of the Michigan relay teams with this year being her first as an Aztec.
Jessica Kain has a pair of qualifying times on the track, ranking 9th in the 1,500m at 4:14.07 and 33rd in the 5,000m at 15:57.21. This will be her third NCAA preliminary appearance, running the 1,500m in both 2021 and 2023. She finished 18th in the second round of last year's regional race. This will be her first time running in the 5,000m run at a preliminary meet.
Aji Mbye has been a freshman sensation this season and will compete in the first NCAA meet of her career. Already etching her name into the record books multiple times and setting the freshman record in both the 100m and 200m, she is set to race in both events in Fayetteville next weekend. Her 11.42 in the 100m ranks 38th among the declared athletes while her 23.44 in the 200m ranks 40th.
Jada Moore is set for yet another NCAA Preliminary, the fourth of her career, and the third in which she races in both the 100m and 200m. Her time of 11.44 in the 100m ranks 43rd in the west and her 23.44 in the 200m is 37th. Counting relays, she will have run in 11 different events at NCAA preliminary meets across the four years her collegiate career.
Xiamara Young will head to her first Division I outdoor preliminary meet as the 14th-ranked athlete in triple jump (43-4.5) in the west region. The indoor all-American will be competing in her second NCAA meet this year and has the experience of competing at the NCAA Division II Championships as a true freshman at Fresno Pacific in 2022.
Joining Young in triple jump will be Sameerah Evans, who ranks 37th in the west region with a mark of 42 feet. This will be her first career NCAA Preliminaries appearance.
The final field athlete to qualify is Jordan Leveque in pole vault. The freshman became the 20th different Aztec to clear 3.97m in her outdoor debut, ultimately ranking 48th in the west with a clearance of 4.07m (13-4.25).
Shaquena Foote qualified for the regionals in the 400m for the second consecutive season. Her time of 52.03 in the 400m ranks 13th among the declared athletes in the west. At her first career NCAA meet last year, she finished 17th in the second round.
Rhea Hoyte continues her successful career of qualifying, making it a perfect 4-for-4 in regional appearances. The senior ran a 58.38 in the 400m hurdles at the MW Championships last weekend, moving her up to 31sd in the west region. Last year, she finished 36th in the first round.
Charlize James' run of 13.05 seconds in the 100m hurdles secured her spot in the NCAA prelims, ranking 13th in the west region. She has now qualified for the regionals in each of her first two collegiate seasons, finishing 22nd in the second round of last year's regional meet.
Alex Lomeli is set for her second consecutive preliminary appearance in the 800m. Her time of 2:05.04 to win silver at the Mountain West Championships ranks 28th in the west region. She finished 22nd in the semifinal of last year's regional race.
Jada Pierre will compete in the second NCAA preliminary round of her career, but first as an individual. With a time of 13.26 in the 100m hurdles, she ranks 26th in the west. Her first postseason meet was as a member of the Virginia relay team at last year's east prelim.
Sydney Bentley and Lidia Major are also headed to Fayetteville as part of the SDSU 4x400m relay team, joining Foote and Hoyte for the race. Waller and Lomeli are listed as backups for the race. They rank 15th of the entries for 4x400m next weekend. This marks the seventh consecutive season the Aztecs will send a 4x4 team to the west preliminary meet.
The quartet of Foote, Mbye, Moore and Waller are responsible for the final qualifying mark, ranking 10th in the 4x100m relay. This will be the Aztecs' fourth straight year, and seventh in the last eight non-COVID years, having a 4x1 team running in the postseason meet. Jada Pierre and Olivia Hicks will serve as backups for the meet.
San Diego State's 18 entries for the west regionals is the most for the program since 2021 and third most under head coach Shelia Burrell. The Aztecs' program record for entries is 20, done twice, since the NCAA began hosting preliminary meets in 2006.
The NCAA West Regionals will be hosted by the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. this season. The women will compete on Thursday, May 23 and Saturday, May 25. The qualifiers at the preliminaries will then join Feyerabend at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.
NCAA West Preliminary Qualifiers
Sameerah Evans – Triple Jump
Jenna Fee Feyerabend – Heptathlon (NCAA Championships)
Shaquena Foote – 400m
Rhea Hoyte – 400m Hurdles
Charlize James – 100m Hurdles
Jessica Kain – 1500m, 5000m
Jordan Leveque – Pole Vault
Alex Lomeli – 800m
Aji Mbye – 100m, 200m
Jada Moore – 100m, 200m
Jada Pierre – 100m Hurdles
Hannah Waller – 100m, Long Jump
Xiamara Young – Triple Jump
Waller, Foote, Moore, Mbye (Pierre, Hicks) – 4x100m Relay
Hoyte, Major, Bentley, Foote (Waller, Lomeli) – 4x400m Relay
15 Aztecs Qualify for NCAA West Preliminary Championships
