The Drake University track & field teams have qualified five athletes in six events for the upcoming NCAA West Preliminary Round, May 24-26, in Sacramento, Calif. The top 12 finishers in each event will advance to next month's NCAA Championship.
 
The Bulldog qualifers are led by freshman Kundai Maguranyanga (Harare, Zimbabwe) who will represent the Bulldogs in the 100 and 200 meters. The reigning Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, Maguranyanga owns the 19^th fastest 200-meter time in the region with a time of 20.67 that recently earned him a runner-up finish at the MVC Championship.
 
That time is the second-fastest in school history and fastest by a Bulldog in nearly 30 years. He also qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary round in the 100 meters with a season-best time of 10.44, which ranks as the sixth-fastest in program history.
 
The remainder of Drake's qualifiers are all hurdlers, and area in which the Bulldog enjoyed incredible success this season. The Bulldogs' hurdlers scored a total of 29 points at the MVC Championship to account for nearly a third of the men's and women's total team points.
 
The NCAA West Preliminary Round 400-meter hurdles field will feature two Bulldogs in sophomore Malik Metivier (Toronto, Ont.) and Hudson Priebe (Chamberlain, S.D.). Metivier recently finished third at the MVC Championship with a personal best of 51.50, the 24^th fastest time in the regional field. Priebe, who was making his fourth-straight appearance in the finals of the MVC Championship, finished fourth at that event and owns a season-best time of 51.50.
 
Their women's counterpart, Victoria Coombe, is making her first NCAA Preliminary round appearance after a stellar junior season in which she became the third Bulldog to ever break the 60-second mark in the 400-meter hurdles. Coombe recently finished second at the MVC Championship with a huge personal best of 59.49 and has knocked nearly two seconds off her personal best the season.
 
Drake's final qualifier is no stranger to NCAA competition. Senior Mary Young (Urbandale, Iowa) is appearing in her fourth-straight 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA West Preliminary Round following a second-place showing in the event at the MVC Championship. She owns a season-best of 13.70 in the event and is the school record holder with an all-time best of 13.38.
 
The men's 400-meter hurdlers lead off action at the NCAA West Prelimary Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. CDT. The Bulldogs' full schedule for the weekend is below as follows. All times are central
 
Thursday – May 24
6:30 p.m. – Men's 400mH – 1^st Round – Malik Metivier, Hudson Priebe
7 p.m. – Women's 400mH – 1^st Round – Victoria Coombe
8:30 p.m. – Men's 100m – 1^st Round – Kundai Maguranyanga
 
Friday – May 25
7 p.m. – Women's 100mH – 1^st Round – Mary Young
8 p.m. – Men's 100m – Quarterfinal – Kundai Maguranyanga
9 p.m. – Men's 400mH – Quarterfinal – Malik Metivier, Hudson Priebe
9:15 p.m. – Women's 400mH – Quarterfinal – Victoria Coombe
9:30 p.m. – Men's 200m – 1^st Round – Kundai Maguranyanga
 
Saturday – May 26
9:20 p.m. – Women's 100mH – Quarterfinal – Mary Young
9:35 p.m. – Men's 200m – Quarterfinal – Kundai Maguranyanga