Falcon Field Trio Qualifies for NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has announced the qualifiers for the NCAA Regional Preliminaries. Three field athletes from Bowling Green have earned a spot in the NCAA East Regional, which be held in Jacksonville, Fla., from May 25-27. Zaresha Neal qualified for the shot put and discus, with fellow thrower Mateya Haintz qualifying in the hammer. Brianna Richard, who qualified for the triple jump, rounds out the group. The trio will compete for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which will be held June 8-10 in Austin, Texas. Below is more information on the BGSU qualifiers and the 2023 NCAA East Regional.

Zaresha Neal – Shot Put and Discus
Zaresha Neal is the lone Falcon to qualify for multiple events, the shot put and discus. She won both events at the 2023 MAC Championship, putting her career MAC title total at five. Her top shot put mark of the season was 53-10.25 (16.41m), recorded during her first-place finish at the Jesse Owens Classic on April 22. Three weeks before that, she threw her best discus mark of the year, reaching 179-1.00 (54.58m) at the Texas Relays. Neal won MAC Field Athlete of the Week five times, the most in the conference. She is the school record-holder in the discus and ranks second in program history in the shot put. Neal enters the Regional Round as the No. 20 seed in the discus and No. 23 seed in the shot put. The shot put will be held at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 25. The discus will be held at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 27.

This marks the fourth time in as many seasons Neal has qualified for the NCAA Regional Preliminaries, with the senior earning a spot in the shot put and discus all four times. In 2019, she finished 16^th in the discus and 38^th in the shot put, exceeding her seed the discus, where she entered at No. 26. After the 2020 season was canceled, Neal returned to qualify again in 2021. Seeded No. 27 in the discus, she finished 13^th, just one spot shy of national qualification. She also exceeded her seed in the shot put, placing 29^th after entering No. 40. Last season, she qualified for the NCAA Championship with a 10^th-place finish in the shot put, five spots above her qualifying seed of No. 15. She also finished 40^th in the discus. Neal joins an elite list of BGSU's four-time qualifiers in the shot put, which includes Takara Dunning, Makenzie Wheat, and Aliyah Gustafson. BGSU has sent at least one shot put thrower to regionals in the last eight seasons. She is the first four-time discus qualifier in school history, with this marking the fifth consecutive season the Falcons have sent a discus thrower to NCAA Regionals.

Mateya Haintz – Hammer Throw
Mateya Haintz has qualified for the second time in her career and first time as a Falcon. She previously competed at the 2021 NCAA East Regional while throwing for Charlotte, where she placed 40^th in the hammer throw. She will compete in the event for BGSU after winning the MAC Championship and ranking fourth in program history with a mark of 197-1.00 (60.08m). This gives her the No. 32 seed entering the regional round, four spots higher than her 2021 seeding. The hammer throw will be held at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, May 25.

Haintz continues an unprecedented run of BGSU hammer throwers to qualify for NCAA Regionals. This is the 10^th consecutive season the Falcons will be represented at the NCAA Preliminary Round, with Haintz being the seventh athlete to qualify during this span. The run began in 2013 with Brooke Pleger, then continued in 2014 when Pleger was joined by Christina Perrine and Kori Reiser. Pleger returned in 2015, then Kayla Velasquez punched her ticket in 2016 and 2017. After Aliyah Gustafson qualified in 2018, Kaila Butler earned a spot in 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Brianna Richard – Triple Jump
After becoming the program's first triple jumper to qualify for NCAA Regionals, Brianna Richard has qualified for the second time in her career. In 2021, she won the MAC title in the triple jump and entered the East Region Preliminary as the No. 37 seed in the event. She jumped 41-3.25 (12.58m) to place 26^th. This year, Richard was the MAC runner-up in the triple jump and earned second-team All-MAC honors. Her top mark of the year was a PR of 42-2.75 (12.87m), obtained at the Jesse Owens Classic. It places her second in school history and gives her the No. 25 seed entering the Regional Round.

Richard earned her first MAC Field Athlete of the Week honor after the Jesse Owens Classic, giving Bowling Green a conference-best total of six Athlete of the Week awards. At the MAC Championship, BGSU finished fourth, the best team finish since 1998. The Falcons totaled four individual titles, the most in school history. Three of those came in throwing events, the first time BGSU has won three throwing titles at a single MAC Championship. They totaled 91 team points, the most since 1999. With this year's qualifying trio, the Falcons have been represented in 45 events at regionals in the last 10 seasons.

Info on the NCAA East Regional
The 2023 NCAA East Regional Preliminaries will be held on the campus of the University of North Florida, located in Jacksonville, Fla. Competition begins on Wednesday, May 24, then runs until Saturday, May 27. Men's events will be held on Wednesday and Friday, with women's events held on Thursday and Saturday. The top 12 competitors from each event will qualify for the NCAA Championship. Each event consists of 48 competitors. Live results for the meet will be posted HERE. Single-session and all-session tickets can be purchased HERE. The schedule of events is available HERE. Full meet information is available HERE. Both days will be streamed on ESPN+, subscription is required. Thursday's stream is available HERE. Saturday's action will be streamed HERE.

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