at NCAA West Preliminary Round
Date: Thursday, May 25
Time: 6 p.m. (PDT)
Location: Hornet Stadium - Sacramento, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - UC Irvine women's track & field is sending three student-athletes to Sacramento for the first round of the NCAA Championships this week. The four-day meet will be held at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State, May 24-27.
 
Sophomore Sameen Andar, sophomore Reyna Johnson and graduate student Evelin Meza will represent the Anteaters at the regional meet. On Thursday, May 25, Johnson is slated to compete in the long jump at 6 p.m., while Andar and Meza are entered in the 10,000-meter run which is set for a 9:10 p.m. start.
 
The top-12 finishers in each individual event will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, June 7-10, in Austin, Texas.
 
QUICK HITS
• UCI track & field has had multiple athletes at the regional meet every year since the qualifying process began in 2003.
• Sameen Andar is the Big West women's 10K champion as she clocked a meet-record 33:44.80 two weeks ago.
• Evelin Meza (10K) and Reyna Johnson (LJ) both finished seventh in their respective events at the Big West meet.
• Andar and Meza will be the first Anteaters to compete in the women's 10K at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
• Andar, Johnson and Meza are set to make their first NCAA track & field appearances this week.
• It is also a homecoming for Johnson who hails from Sacramento and attended St. Francis High School.
 
SAMEEN ANDAR // Women's 10,000m // Sophomore // 5-2 // San Ramon, Calif. // Biological Sciences
• Andar is the 2023 Big West Women's 10K champion, winning the event in a meet-record 33:44.80.
• She established a personal-record and NCAA qualifying time of 33:34.13 at the Bryan Clay Invitational (April 13).
• That mark was the best in her heat and ranks second in program history.
• She is seeded 34th heading into Thursday's NCAA West Preliminary Round.
• Andar was also an All-Big West performer in the 5,000m, finishing third at the conference meet.
• She broke a 37-year-old school record with a 23-second PR of 16:13.12 at the Steve Scott Invitational on April 28.
• In the fall, Andar earned All-Big West honors after running her first career sub-20-minute 6K to place sixth overall.
• Her 6K time of 19:57.6 is second among UCI's all-time leaders.
 
REYNA JOHNSON // Women's Long Jump // Sophomore // 5-6 // Sacramento, Calif. // Undeclared
• Johnson has finished no lower than seventh place in each of her seven long jump competitions this season.
• She won the event at the Challenge Cup (April 7) and Steve Scott Invitational (April 28).
• Johnson established her NCAA qualifying mark of 6.12m (20-1) at the Beach Invitational on April 15.
• She finished fourth out of 44 in the meet and moved up to No. 3 in program history.
• She is just the third Anteater to reach the 20-foot mark and first since 1992.
• Johnson is from Sacramento and attended St. Francis High School, which is about a mile away from Hornet Stadium.
 
EVELIN MEZA // Women's 10,000m // Graduate Student // 5-1 // Greenfield, Calif. // Public Policy
• Meza ran a 10K lifetime-best and NCAA qualifying time of 34:07.28 at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 13.
• That moved her into UCI's all-time top-10 as she ranks fifth in program history.
• Meza also scored in the 10K at the Big West Championships, placing seventh overall (35:04.48).
• She competed in three 5,000-meter races on the year, clocking a PR 16:54.59 at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival.
• During the fall, Meza finished 11th at the Big West XC Championships with UCI's sixth-best 6K time at 20:28.7.
 
UP NEXT
The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships are set for June 7-10 in Austin, Texas. The championship field will be comprised of the top-12 finishers in each event at the two regional meets this week.