SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Washington State's Stephanie Cho became the latest Cougar to qualify and advance to the NCAA Championships during the second day of the NCAA West Region Preliminary Rounds at Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State campus. Of the 48 competitors in each event, the top 12 advance to the NCAA Championships, June 6-9, at Hayward Field in Eugene.
 
Cho, a junior, ran her second lifetime-best 400m hurdles time in two days and advanced from the quarterfinals to the NCAA Championships semifinals June 8 in Eugene. Cho, from Vancouver, B.C. Canada, clocked in with a time of 58.90 seconds Thursday in the first round and Friday chopped that down to 58.12 in the quarterfinal. She finished in fourth place in the second heat where the top three finishers automatically advanced. Overall, Cho had the ninth-fastest time of the day and was the second of the three "next best" times to advance to the semifinals in two weeks. Cho's 58.12 time is fifth-best in WSU all-time history.
 
Unfortunately, Alissa Brooks-Johnson (redshirt senior, Doty, Wash.) finished fifth in that second heat with a time of 58.32, 12-best on the day, but the same time as an automatic qualifier from the first heat. Brooks-Johnson, a two-time All-American, will compete in the heptathlon at Eugene.
 
Zach Smith, a senior from Bremerton, Wash., will race in the men's 200m dash quarterfinals Sat., May 26 at 7:35 p.m. after running a time of 21.20. Smith's time was 21st-fastest on the day (of 48) and he was the fourth of six non-placing qualifiers to advance. Smith's PR time is 21.12w, run at the Pac-12 Championships.
 
The NCAA West Preliminary Rounds continues Saturday, May 25-26, in Sacramento. In addition to the Zach Smith who qualified for the men's 200m quarterfinals, Saturday's competition will see Kaili Keefe and Chandler Teigen in the women's and men's 1500m quarterfinals, Vallery Korir and Michael Williams in the women's and men's 5000m semifinals, Cole Smith in the men's javelin, Peyton Fredrickson in the men's high jump, and Greer Alsop in the women's triple jump.
 
THEY SAID:
Wayne Phipps, WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field, said, "It was great to add another national qualifier as Stephanie ran an amazing race and another PR on back-to-back days. Zach had a great race out of lane one to advance to the next round in the 200m; an amazing accomplishment considering he was ranked 77th before declarations. We finished the night with a great PR by Devon in the steeple."

Stephanie Cho, junior 400m hurdler, said, "I knew I was ready for a breakthrough going into this meet and I have been working with Coach Phipps on my stride pattern quite a bit over the last few weeks. Going into the first round I knew that I just needed to approach the race the same as I did Pac--12s and it would advance me to the second round. For the race today I knew I needed a big PR to get to NCAAs so I took my race out faster than usual as I knew I had the fitness to close hard and PR. It was a risk but it paid off! I'm super excited about the PRs but I know I have more in me for NCAAs."
 
OTHER COUGARS COMPETING MAY 25 AT NCAA WEST REGION PRELIMS
MEN
110m Hurdles - 25th. Nick Johnson (14.30); 28th. Christapherson Grant (14.34)
3000m Steeplechase - 35th. Colton Johnsen (9:02.22)
 
WOMEN
100m Hurdles - 37th. Alissa Brooks-Johnson (13.97)
3000m Steeplechase - 30th. Devon Bortfeld (PR 10:18.30)
Pole Vault - t-22nd. Molly Scharmann (3.93m/12-10 3/4)
 
NOTEWORTHY:

• Devon Bortfeld (senior, Sammamish, Wash.) ran a PR time in the 3k steeplechase of 10:18.30 - fourth-best in WSU all-time records
• Brock Eager (men's hammer), Sander Moldau (men's pole vault) and Alissa Brooks-Johnson (women's heptathlon) have already qualified for the NCAA Championships June 6-9 in Eugene