By: Charlie Armitz

The Gophers men's track and field team advanced 10 athletes to the NCAA championships for the second year in a row at this weekend's regional in Austin, Texas.

The women will send just one athlete — junior distance runner Laura Docherty — to the championships, which will be held in Eugene, Ore., on June 5-8.

Seven individuals from the men's team qualified this weekend, as did its 4×400-meter relay of seniors Harun Abda and Cameron Boy, junior Jacob Capek and freshman Goaner Deng. The relay capped the Gophers' strong weekend by running the sixth-fastest time in school history (3:06.12) on Saturday.

Freshman Wally Ellenson, a member of the Gophers basketball team, qualified Thursday with a high jump of 7 feet, 1 inch — less than an inch short of his personal record.

Senior hammer throwers Quentin Mege and Micah Hegerle threw 66.33 and 64.60 meters, respectively, to qualify Saturday. Mege, a senior, broke his hand early this season but recovered to meet one of his major goals this season. His throw was the second-farthest at the regional.

Abda and senior Travis Burkstrand finished the 800-meter run less than a half-second apart to qualify. Junior John Simons advanced in the 1,500, and senior Oladipo Fagbemi set a personal record to qualify in the triple jump.

Docherty ran a personal-record time of 16:10 in the 5,000-meter run Saturday to make her first NCAA meet. She has been a bright spot on a women's team that has struggled this year. She set a school record in the 10,000 earlier this outdoor season, placed in the top five in both the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Big Ten outdoor championships, and focused on just the 5,000 for the regional.