Butler Nails Down Spot To Nationals In Hammer

Thursday, May 23

Jacksonville, Fla.

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

NCAA East Region Preliminaries

May 23, 2019 | Women's Track and Field

By: by Jason Knavel, Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications

Jacksonville, Fla. – Redshirt sophomore Kaila Butler will represent Bowling Green at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championships after earning the 12^th and final qualifying spot from the east region Thursday evening at Hodges Field on the campus of the University of North Florida. Making her first career appearance in an NCAA regional meet, Butler opened with a throw of 201-feet-7 (61.45m) and then held on to the final spot through the final harrowing moments of competition.

Junior Chasatea Brown also competed for Bowling Green in the 400 hurdles, placing 43^rd with a time of 1:02.40. She finished sixth out of eight competitors in her heat.

LIVE RESULTS
FLOTRACK VIDEO STREAM
BREAKING DOWN BGSU'S REGIONAL QUALIFIERS

SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, MAY 23
4:00 pm – Hammer throw (11. Kaila Butler)
4:30 pm – 400 Hurdles First Round (40. Chasatea Brown)
FRIDAY, MAY 24
12:00 pm – Discus (26. Zaresha Neal, 41. Aliyah Gustafson)
SATURDAY, MAY 25
5:15 pm – Shot put (4. Aliyah Gustafson, 32. Zaresha Neal)

"This is such a unique meet that you typically have to go once or twice to get comfortable with the setting and the pressure," BGSU Head Coach Lou Snelling said. "The typical first-time experience does not go that well. It's really cool for Kaila to take that step in her first time here."

For Butler, who entered as the No. 11 seed in the field of 48, it was statistically her worst meet of the year. She had thrown at least 62 meters in every competition this year, winning the MAC Championship two weeks ago with a distance of 209-9 (63.94m). She had thrown as far as 213-0 (64.92m) earlier this year at the Texas Relays. But this is the ultimate 'survive-and-advance' meet where the only objective is finishing in the top 12.

Kaila Butler takes the final spot to the NCAA National Championships! She will be in Austin, Texas! #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/qnxj0bNbZ2
— BGSU XC/Track (@BG_XCTrack) May 23, 2019

"Historically, the distance Kaila threw is typically about what it takes to advance," Snelling said. "The field is always better than that coming in, but there's so much pressure and you only get three throws."

Butler sat in ninth place through the first round of throws with her distance of 201-7 and remained in that spot heading into the last round for the 16 highest seeds. By the time Butler threw in the 13 spot, she had already fallen to 12^th place with the final two competitors positioned to pass her. But after North Carolina's Jillian Shippee fouled and Penn's Rachel Wilson came up short on the final toss of the evening, Butler had avoided getting nudged out of the magic mark.

Earlier in the day, Brown ran in the second heat of the 400 hurdles. After qualifying for regionals by posting a time of 59.73 seconds in the finals of the MAC Championships two weeks ago, Brown was unable to replicate that race.

"The mentality for Chasatea is that she is going to come back here again and be in a different position," Snelling said. "She wanted more, but we talked about learning something from this experience and taking something away from it."

And she's off! Chasatea Brown places sixth in her heat in her regional debut! #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/JbTXrBpCyv
— BGSU XC/Track (@BG_XCTrack) May 23, 2019

Along with Butler and Brown, redshirt freshman Zaresha Neal will compete in both the discus and shot put over the final two days of the regional. So three of BGSU's four representatives are making their first appearance at the regional meet and all have eligibility remaining for the future.

"It's great to see the next generation making their impact already," Snelling said. "It's been Aliyah Gustafson and Rachel Walny for so long. They saw Brooke Pleger (a three-time All-American from 2013-15) do her thing. They eventually took those steps. Now, the next generation is seeing this next group do it, thinking 'I may not be there now, but why can't I be?'"

On Friday, the Falcons will take part in the discus for the second day of regional competition. Neal is seeded No. 26 of the 48 competitors and Aliyah Gustafson is seeded No. 41. Discus begins at noon at Hodges Stadium.

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