The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee has announced the participants in the 2013 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Preliminary Championships competition, and Seattle University redshirt junior Dylan Burnett (Lynnwood, Wash.) has qualified in the javelin throw, the first Redhawk to qualify for a NCAA Division I championship event since the completion of the reclassification process.
Thanks to a throw of 64.69 meters (212’ 3”) at the Ken Shannon Invitational May 4 at the University of Washington, Burnett is one of 48 competitors who will participate in the West region preliminary at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. He is coming off a fifth place finish at last week’s Western Athletic Conference Championships, coming close to his season best with a mark of 64.57 meters (211’ 10”).
“We're very excited that Dylan has thrown well enough this season to make it to the preliminary round of Nationals. This has been the main focus for him all season. Through Dylan's efforts and great coaching by Coach (Gianpaolo) Licata and Coach (Chad) Pharis, it happened! Dylan continued to show improvement in his technique at the conference meet as well, so we hope that he can put it all together at the West Region meet to try to make it to the final round of Nationals,” Seattle U head track and field coach Trisha Steidl said.
Burnett holds the school record in the javelin throw with a mark of 70.66 meters (231’ 10”) set two years ago as he won the Great West Conference title and earned Most Outstanding Performance in that meet. He will need to finish in the top 12 at the preliminary meet in order to advance to the final championships competition, to be held in Eugene, Ore., June 5-8.
“I am excited our program has the first NCAA qualifier at Seattle U and that it happened in our first year of being eligible,” added Steidl. “We have a number of others who were on the cusp of qualifying, so I expect to take more people next year. It certainly is a major focus in our program now that we are eligible.”
Burnett will compete in the men’s javelin throw at the NCAA Division I West Preliminary Championships in Austin, Texas, Saturday, May 25, at 12 noon local time (10 a.m. Pacific time).