UCI Heads to Texas for NCAA West Preliminaries

Wednesday, May 26

College Station, Texas

All Day

UC Irvine

NCAA West Preliminary Championships

Photo by: John Fajardo

UCI Heads to Texas for NCAA West Preliminaries

May 25, 2021 | Men's Track & Field

NCAA West Preliminary Championships
Dates: May 26-29 (Wednesday-Saturday)
Location: E.B. Cushing Stadium - College Station, Texas
Live Stream: SECN+
Live Results // Meet Schedule

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's track & field team is sending two student-athletes to the Lone Star State for the NCAA West Preliminary Championships. The four-day meet will be held at E.B. Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas, May 26-29.

Jack Pickard and Kyle Tsu will represent the Anteaters in the javelin and shot put, respectively. Both events are scheduled for Wednesday, May 26. The men's javelin is one of the first events of the meet at 11:30 a.m. (PDT), while the shot put is later in the day at 4 p.m. (PDT).

The top-12 finishers in each individual event will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, June 9-12, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

QUICK HITS
• UCI track & field has had multiple athletes at the regional meet every year since the qualifying process began in 2003.
• Jack Pickard and Kyle Tsu are both making their second career NCAA West Preliminary appearances.
• Tsu was the 2021 Big West men's shot put champion with a PR 59-05.5, which ranks second in school history.
• The 'Eaters competed in one meet last season before the 2020 campaign was canceled due to the pandemic.
• Over a year later, they made their return to competition at the Ben Brown Invitational (March 12-13, 2021).

JACK PICKARD // Men's Javelin // Senior // 6-3 // Concord, Calif.
• Pickard is making his second NCAA appearance in the javelin as he also advanced to the West Prelims in 2019.
• He established a regional qualifying mark at the Fullerton Spring Invitational with a season-best 213-10.
• That is good for a No. 32 seed at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships.
• Pickard earned All-Big West honors two weeks ago with a runner-up finish at the conference championships (212-03).
• He has placed among the top-two in all eight of his javelin competitions this season.
• As a junior, Pickard established a PR and new javelin school record 221-00 in his Anteater debut on April 5, 2019.
• Pickard played baseball in high school and didn't start competing in track & field until junior college.
• He ended up excelling in the javelin at Diablo Valley College where he was a two-time state finalist (2017-18).
• Pickard is majoring in applied physics.

KYLE TSU // Men's Shot Put // Junior // 6-3 // Huntington Beach, Calif.
• Tsu is making his second NCAA appearance in the shot put as he also advanced to the West Prelims in 2019.
• He established a regional qualifying mark at the Big West Championships on May 14.
• Tsu claimed the conference title with a personal-record 59-05.5, moving him up to No. 2 in school history.
• That mark also ranks first in the conference and puts him as the 34th seed in this week's regional meet.
• Tsu joined Mason Miller (2015) and Mike Morales (1989, 1990) as UC Irvine's Big West men's shot put champions.
• This season, Tsu has placed among the top-three in all eight of his shot put competitions with four individual victories.
• He also established a lifetime-best 174-08 in the discus at the season-opening Ben Brown Invitational.
• Tsu is majoring in biological sciences.

UP NEXT
The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are set for June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon. The championship field will be comprised of the top-12 finishers in each event at the two regional meets this week.

Josh Farmer has already qualified for nationals in the decathlon where he is seeded 12th overall. Since the combined events are not contested at the Preliminary Round sites, the top-24 declared student-athletes are accepted directly into the national championships.