Michigan State women carried the biggest share of the program’s NCAA First Round hopes Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky, and none of the Spartans who competed that day moved on to Eugene. The closest calls came in the field, where Tess Roman finished 14th in the javelin at 49.71 meters and Elle Adrian placed 17th in the hammer throw at 60.47 meters, both outside the top-12 cutoff for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
That made Thursday a tough swing day for the Spartans. Michigan State brought 18 entries to the East First Round in Lexington, and the Michigan State women’s side had a heavy share of the action with nationals spots on the line.
Roman and Adrian were right in the mix
Roman’s 14th-place finish stands out because the margin was so tight. With only 12 automatic qualifiers advancing from each event in Lexington, the Michigan State thrower finished two spots short of extending her season to Hayward Field.
Adrian also stayed competitive in the hammer, landing 17th with a throw of 60.47 meters. Michigan State’s Thursday group was built around chances like those, and both throws put the Spartans close without getting over the line.
The rest of Thursday’s results
Michigan State also got a 42nd-place finish from Olivia Millen in the 1500 meters at 4:23.15, a 31st-place finish from Sydnee Sinn in the 800 meters at 2:05.80, and a 32nd-place finish from Rylan Finstrom in the shot put at 15.54 meters, per the official results from Thursday’s session.
Michigan State’s meet preview had flagged Sophia Mettes as a top-10 regional seed in the pole vault and laid out how important the women’s dates would be in Lexington. The same preview set the path to nationals, with the East First Round running May 27-30 and qualifiers advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene from June 10-13.
Where MSU stands now
As Thursday wrapped, Michigan State’s only confirmed national qualifiers were still the three men who advanced Wednesday: Xavier Griffiths in the hammer throw, plus Colby Morlock and Dillon Morlock in the shot put, as listed in the Spartans’ first-day recap.
The next women to watch are Kate Stewart-Barnett and Sophia Lucki, who remained on the Saturday schedule after Thursday’s events. That leaves Michigan State waiting on the steeplechase to add to its Eugene group after a day when the Michigan State women had multiple chances and Roman came the closest to turning one into a nationals berth.