SACRAMENTO - The UC Irvine women's track & field team closed out the 2023 season at the NCAA West Preliminary Round Thursday evening at Hornet Stadium.
 
Sophomore Sameen Andar led the Anteaters in the 10,000-meter run, crossing the finish line in a personal-record 33:20.89 to place 18th among the top-48 in the West Region. Andar, who was ranked 34th entering the meet, bettered her No. 2 time in program history by 13 seconds. It has been a breakout season for the San Ramon native who won the Big West 10K title, took third in the conference in the 5,000m and broke a 37-year old 5K school record with a time of 16:13.12 at the Steve Scott Invitational.
 
Graduate student Evelin Meza also placed 41st in the 10K, clocking in at 34:24.31. Meza beat her seeding by six spots as she came in ranked 47th with a lifetime-best and NCAA qualifying mark of 34:07.28.
 
Andar and Meza were the first 'Eaters to run the 10,000m at the NCAA Prelims since regional qualifying began in 2003.
 
Sophomore Reyna Johnson competed in the long jump, starting the evening with a leap of 5.87 meters (19-3.25). That stood as her best of the meet as she finished 37th overall. Johnson beat out her regional seeding by 11 spots. Earlier in the season, Johnson established a personal-record and NCAA qualifying mark of 6.12m (20-1) at the Beach Invitational. She was the third Anteater in program history to reach the 20-foot mark.

The top-12 finishers in each event earned a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in two weeks.