AUSTIN, Texas -- Washington State's Brock Eager became the first Cougar to qualify and advance to the NCAA Championships during the first day of the NCAA West Region Preliminary Rounds at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the University of Texas campus in Austin. Of the 48 competitors in each event, the top 12 advance to the NCAA Championships, June 7-10 at Hayward Field in Eugene.
 
Eager, a redshirt sophomore from Renton, Wash., punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships with his third place finish in the men's hammer. Eager, the 2017 Pac-12 hammer champion, had a best toss Thursday of 223-feet, 10 inches (68.22m), just under his lifetime-best throw of 225-3, thrown at the Cougar Invite just weeks ago. Teammate Travis Pickett (redshirt senior, Snohomish, Wash.) did not advance, throwing a distance of 176-11 (53.93m) which was 45th.
 
Cougars performing and advancing within the Region included CJ Allen (senior, Allyn, Wash.) who won his heat of the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 50.40 seconds and will race again Friday in the quarterfinals. Allen's first round time was the second-fastest at the West Region but off his PR time of 49.54.
 
Alissa Brooks-Johnson (redshirt junior, Doty, Wash.) has already punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships in the heptathlon but ran a season-best time in the 400m hurdles of 59.99 Thursday for 20th and qualified for the Friday quarterfinals.
 
Ja'Maun Charles (sophomore, Pleasanton, Calif.) advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's 100m dash after running a wind-aided PR time in the first round of 10.24 seconds, 19th-fastest on the day.
 
Cole Smith, a redshirt senior from Hoquiam, Wash., heaved the javelin a lifetime-best distance of 217-feet 1 inch (66.16m) on his first of three throws but fell seven inches short of advancing to the NCAA Championships, taking 13th in the field of 48. Brad Stevens (redshirt junior, Snoqualmie, Wash.) finished 42nd with a throw of 185-6 (56.54m).
 
In the women's javelin, Atina Kamasi (freshman, Novi Sad, Serbia) threw a distance of 151-0 (46.03m) for 19th place while Kelsey Kehl (freshman, Baldwin City, Kan.) finished 41st with her throw of 134-5 (40.95m). Katie Wardsworth (redshirt junior, Spokane Valley, Wash.) finished 39th in the hammer with a throw of 181-0 (55.18m).
 
Regyn Gaffney (sophomore, Chehalis, Wash.) did not advance in the women's 100m dash, running a wind-aided prelim time of 11.50 which was sixth in heat two and 31st overall.
 
Matthew Swanson (redshirt senior, North Vancouver, B.C. Canada) ran the men's 800m prelim in a time of 1:51.40, 24th overall while Marlow Schulz (junior, Whitefish, Mont.) ran the women's 800m first round in a time of 2:10.00 which was also 24th. Both Swanson and Schulz did not advance as each was displaced by runners who qualified in slower times but finished higher in their heats.
 
In the men's 10k, Sam Levora (junior, Sandpoint, Idaho) ran a time of 30:12.95 for 15th and Michael Williams (junior, Richland, Wash.) dropped out of the race after 6,000 meters. Vallery Korir (junior, Iten, Kenya) did not finish the women's 10,000m, dropping out after 8,400 meters.
 
The NCAA West Preliminary Rounds continue Friday and Saturday, May 25-27, in Austin, Texas. In addition to the Cougars who qualified for the quarterfinals Thursday, Friday competition will see WSU athletes in the 110 hurdles, men's and women's steeplechase and the women's high jump.