FARGO, N.D. - The North Dakota State women's track and field team will send 10 athletes to the West Region NCAA Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas May 27-29.  In both the East and West regions, the top 48 athletes in each event made the preliminary round and the top 12 will advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore.  

In the heptathlon, the top 24 athletes nationwide will compete at the NCAA Championships June 9-12.  Junior Whitney Carlson and senior Heather Zander made the championship field.  Carlson is 20^th with a score of 5,343 points and Zander is 22^nd with 5,328 points.

At the NCAA Preliminary Round, Carlson will compete in both the 100 meter hurdles and the long jump.  She is sixth in the region in the long jump with a school record mark of 21 feet 1 ½.  Carlson is 32^nd in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.75.

Three other Bison will also compete in the long jump. Sophomore Kristen Killoran is 30^th with a mark of 20-1 ½.  Zander is 46^th after a jump of 19-7 and senior Brittni Bruenjes is 48^th with a mark of 19-6 ¾. 

Killoran also made the field in the triple jump.  She is 32^nd with a leap of 41-1 ½.

Juniors Christine Bruins and Brittany Gigstead both made the field in the 800 meters.  Bruins is 21^st with a time of 2:07.42 and Gigstead is 24^th with a time of 2:07.86.

Senior Devon Wentz will compete in the 400 meter hurdles after posting a time of 1:00.56 and freshman Ashley Tingelstad will run in the 400 meters  ranked 35^th with a time of 54.27.

In the pole vault, sophomore Leslie Brost is seventh in the region with a school record mark of 14-1 ¼. 

Sophomore Toni Tollefson is seventh in the high jump after clearing a school record mark of 5-11 ½.