AUSTIN, Texas – Day one of the NCAA Track & Field West Regionals kicked off on Thursday at the University of Texas with seven Northern Arizona athletes competing. Out of the seven NAU athletes who participated in the prelims, Futsum Zienasellassie and Matt McElroy stood out as the two qualified for nationals in Eugene, Ore. in two weeks.

NAU was well represented in the 10,000-meter run as Zienasellassie, McElroy and Tyler Byrne looked to reserve a seat in Eugen, Ore. for nationals. Zienasellassie led the group going into the race as the fourth seed and right behind was McElroy as the fifth seed, while Byrne was 25^th in the region. In the final race of the night the duo of Zienasellassie and McElroy did not disappoint taking fifth and eighth place to head to nationals. Byrne finished 22^nd in the prelims with a time of 31:00.09, moving three spots up from his original seeding.

"Fustum and Matt both ran perfectly tonight," said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. "In a group of 48 runners, you do not want to get behind and have a situation where you get stuck or you trip so they got to the front and helped control the pace. Hats off to both Matt and Futsum for running perfect races to qualify for Eugene."

Out of the 25 laps Zienasellassie, McElroy and Byrne each led the race at one point where they were able to dictate the pace of the race and help each other out. McElroy and Zienasellassie were a part of the group of eight leading the way throughout the entire race and looking to qualify for nationals for the first time in his career, McElroy left it all on the track running a time of 29:45.44 taking eighth place.

"It feels good because this is my first national meet that I have ever qualified for," said McElroy. "When you step into a meet like this you really don't have a game plan because we don't know what to expect but the whole goal is to get into that top-12. When the race unfolded we were able to pick our game plan from there and it was good for Futsum and me to help each other out when we were leading the pack."

Zienasellassie did not disappoint with a time of 29:44.78 finishing fifth for his second career appearance at nationals but first appearance in the 10,000m.

"This is awesome because not only did I qualify but I get to go to nationals with my teammate (McElroy) that I have been training with every single day," said Zienasellassie. "I tried to stay relaxed as much as I could and now it feels good that I will be able to train 10 more days for nationals."

Junior Micael Ljunberg was the first athlete from NAU to compete in Austin as regionals began with the men's discus throw. In his first of three attempts, Ljunberg started with a 50.57m in flight one but Ljunberg had to deal with a weather delay as lightning was struck in the area. After the delay, Ljunberg's second throw would go for 51.73m and yet Ljunberg had to deal with another weather delay due to lightning in the area.

"Today was not the best conditions with one throw, and then a one hour delay; then another throw followed by an hour delay and then the last throw," said Ljunberg. "I could have done better even if the conditions were bad but I ended up doing my best.

Ljunberg's final throw after the second weather delay would be his top throw of the day at 52m. The native of Sweden went into the prelims as the 35^th seed and finished the day at No. 27.

"The conditions were tough and Micael had to re-warm up three separate times so in those terms he was consistent and that is what we are looking for," said throws coach Nathan Ott. "The number one goal is to stay consistent and I am happy with his performance because he has been hitting those marks all season.

Up next was Brooke Andersen in the hammer throw as the native of Vista, Calif. went into prelims with as the No. 9 seed with a season-best throw of 63.30m. Andersen improved in every throw at the prelims and her final attempt was 60.91m placing her in 16^th place, missing out on nationals.

It was a day full of emotions for sophomore James Fisher as he returned home to Texas competing in the 100-meter dash. The native of Arlington, Texas went in with the 22^nd best time with a time of 10.33 with the hopes of making the top-12 to qualify for nationals. Fisher was unable to qualify for the national meet as he ran a time of 10.61 finishing seventh in his flight.

In the first round of the 400-meters race, senior Adel al Nasser ran a time of 47.88 finishing in 40^th place. Nasser went into the race with a time of 47.16 placing him as the 42^nd seed.

Northern Arizona will be back in action tomorrow in Austin as Vernon Jamison, Cody Reed and Julia Viberg will compete in their respective events.