Des Moines, Iowa - Western Kentucky University will be well represented this week at Drake Stadium for the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships with Ignacio "Nacho" Guerra, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Laura Igaune set to compete for the national titles in their respective events.
Guerra will kick off the competition for WKU in the men's javelin Wednesday at 3:05pm (CDT). The Santiago, Chile native finished third in the NCAA East Preliminaries at Indiana University with a throw of 240-0 to advance to the finals site. He is ranked second in the nation with a WKU and Chilean national record performance of 258-2, recorded at the Florida Relays in early April. In the last weekend in April, Guerra won the Drake Relays javelin championship and is looking to repeat that winning performance at the same venue Wednesday. The last Hilltopper javelin thrower to advance to the NCAA final rounds was Kristo Galeta in 2003 and 2004.
Kipchirchir took runner-up honors in the men's 10,000 meters at IU with a time of 29:08.64 to earn a spot in the NCAA championship. Having recorded the 26th-fastest time in the NCAA this season, the Eldoret, Kenya native had the second-fastest time among the qualifiers from the prelimary round sites. His effort at IU ranks as the fifth-best time in the Hilltopper all-time performance list. This will mark the second-straight year that a Hilltopper will run the 10,000 meters at the NCAA finals, as Patrick Cheptoek advanced to last year's championship in Eugene last season. Kipchrichir – who earned USTFCCCA all-America honors this past cross country season – is scheduled to run at 8:50pm Thursday.
Igaune took runner-up honors in the women's hammer with a toss of 209-8 at the preliminary round to advance to the finals. A native of Riga, Latvia, she owns the WKU and Latvian national records in the event with a mark of 211-5, recorded at the Billy Hayes Invitational on May 5. Ranked seventh in the NCAA this season, Igaune is seeded fourth based on performances recorded at the preliminary sites. She becomes the first Lady Topper in school history to advance to the NCAA Championship meet in the hammer. The women's hammer is scheduled for Friday at 3:00pm.
