RENO, Nev.  – The Nevada track and field team wrapped up the Mountain West Outdoor Championships last weekend, and today six athletes officially qualified for the NCAA West Preliminaries. The national preliminary meet will be hosted by Sacramento State, and take place from May 23-25. Sophomore Nicola Ader, senior Lindsey Sickler, sophomore Alex Bohlman and junior Karoline Sauer all reached the preliminary round last season. Joining them are two newcomers to the meet, sophomore Hiley Dobbs and junior Gaby Palmer.
 
"The fruit of one's hard work culminates here with the opportunity to compete against the nation's best," said head coach Shantel Twiggs. "Our next major goal is to join Nicola at the NCAA finals. It will be our toughest challenge yet, but we are up for it!"
 
Leading the way for the Wolf Pack's qualifiers is Ader. The defending indoor and outdoor conference high jump champion qualified in the high jump with a mark of 5' 11.25" (1.81 meter) as well as the long jump 20' 7.75" (6.29 m). Ader owns the Nevada outdoor school record in the long jump, and is second on the outdoor all-time list for the high jump. During indoor season, Ader tied a school record in the high jump, earning a trip to the NCAA Indoor National Championships, where she earned Second team All-American honors. Ader reached the preliminary round last season in the high jump as well.
 
Ader will advance directly to the NCAA National Championships in the heptathlon, with her mark of 5,590 ranking 18th in the NCAA. Multis events are not run at the preliminaries, with the top 24 in each region qualifying straight to nationals.
 
Sickler qualified in the steeplechase with a time of 10:04.66. Sickler's steeplechase time was set last weekend at the Mountain West Championships, where she took third. Sickler's steeplechase time is ninth in the west region, meaning the Gardnerville, Nev. native will have a strong opportunity to advance to nationals. This is the third straight year the Pack has had a competitor in the steeplechase at the preliminary meet, after Sickler last year and Emily Myers the year before.
 
Three more Mountain West medalists will be continuing their season for Nevada, with Bohlman, Palmer and Sauer all qualifying as well. Bohlman, the Pack's first conference champion in the javelin since 2008, owns a season and personal best of 151' 9" (46.26 m). Sauer became the first from the Pack to win an outdoor event in back-to-back years after defending her gold medal in this year's 400m hurdles. Sauer's season and personal best of 59.90 seconds is the top time in school history, and punched her ticket to Sacramento. Bohlman and Sauer both reached the preliminary meet last season as well.
 
Rounding out the medalists is Palmer, who took home a bronze medal just a few months after taking third at the indoor conference championship. Palmer's season and personal best mark of 13' 4.25" (4.07 m) is second on the Nevada indoor all-time list. During the indoor season, Palmer moved to the top of the Nevada all-time list with a mark of 13' 8.50" (4.18 m).
 
Finally, Dobbs qualified in the 10,000m with a time of 34:33.91 in a fourth-place finish last weekend.
 
Last season, the Wolf Pack took nine athletes to the west prelims. The last time any member of the Wolf Pack advanced to the NCAA Outdoor National Championships was 2017, with Myers in the steeplechase and Nicole Wadden in the heptathlon. Competition kicks off on Thursday, May 23 at 4:30 p.m. with Sauer competing in the first round of the 400m hurdles.