Six members of the Drake University track and field teams have qualified for the field at next week's NCAA West Preliminary in hopes of advancing to the NCAA Championship. The NCAA West Preliminary, hosted by the University of Texas, begins Thursday, May 25 and continues through Saturday. The Bulldogs' six qualifiers are stretched across seven events and the top 12 finishers in each event will advance to next month's NCAA Championships.

Drake Student-Athletes at NCAA West Preliminary Round Schedule
Thursday, May 25
5 p.m. – Men's 400-meter hurdles – Bas Van Leersum / Hudson Priebe
6:55 p.m. – Men's 100 meters – Caulin Graves
9:40 p.m. – Men's 10,000 meters – Reed Fischer
 
Friday, May 26
4:30 p.m. – Women's 100-meter hurdles – Mary Young
7 p.m. - Men's 400-meter hurdles - Bas Van Leersum
 
Saturday, May 27
6 p.m. – Women's triple jump – Taryn Rolle
8:45 p.m. – Men's 5,000 meters – Reed Fischer

Action for the Bulldogs begins on Thursday at 5 p.m. with Bas Van Leersum (Zaandam, The Netherlands) competing in the 400-meter hurdles. Van Leersum earned All-MVC honors for the second-straight year this season and has a season-best of 51.35, which is the 25th fastest time in the region this season. Van Leersum is joined by teammate Hudson Priebe (Chamberlain, S.D.) in the field. Priebe has clocked a time of 51.67 to rank 34^th in the NCAA West field. The top three finishers in each of the six heats, plus the next six fastest time will advance to the next round of quarterfinals on Friday at 7:15 p.m.
 
Caulin Graves (Kansas City, Mo.) will also step into the starting blocks on Friday as the freshman phenom races in the men's 100 meters. Graves is coming off an impressive Missouri Valley Conference Championship in which her finished second in the 200 meters and fourth in the 100 meters. His season-best qualifying mark of the season at 10.31 is the 29^th fastest time in this year's West Preliminary field.
 
Thursday evening will be capped by Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.) running in the 10,000 meters. Earlier this season, Fischer posted a time of 28:47.86 in the event at the Stanford Invitational. That time remains the seventh-best in the West Preliminary field. Last season, Fischer finished sixth in the event at the West Preliminary en route to a 17^th-place finish at the NCAA Championship.
 
The reigning MVC Champion in the women's 100-meter hurdles, Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa) begins competition Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the 100-meter hurdles. The junior's qualifying time of 13.30 is the 23^rd fastest in the field and she recently clocked a wind-aided time of 13.14 to win the MVC title.
 
Saturday will feature Taryn Rolle (Nassau, The Bahamas) competing in the triple jump at 6 p.m. followed by Fischer potentially competing in the 5,000 meters. He currently owns the seventh-fastest time among the entries with his school record time of 13:48.32.