NCAA West Preliminaries
McCarthy Punches Ticket to NCAA Championships
5/30/2025 11:00:00 PM | Track and Field
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Aidan McCarthy punched his ticket to the NCAA Championships to highlight action on the final day of competition for the Cal Poly men’s track and field team at the NCAA West Prelims on Friday.
Four individuals and the men’s 4x400-meter relay all vied for berths to nationals at Texas A&M’s E.B. Cushing Stadium with McCarthy securing the lone ticket of the day for the Mustangs.
In the quarterfinals of the men’s 800, McCarthy used his coveted kick to go from last to the front of his heat in the final 350 meters to earn a berth to the NCAA Championships in Eugene on June 11-14. The phenom secured an automatic qualifier spot to the national meet by placing second in his heat with a time of 1:47.01, running the fifth fastest time across the three 800 quarterfinal heats.
This is the second time McCarthy has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and the first time since 2023 after he missed the 2024 outdoor season due to injury. During his trip to nationals in 2023, the Pleasanton, Calif. native placed seventh in the 800 to become the first Mustang since 2011 to earn First Team All-American honors. Earlier this year at the NCAA Indoor Championships, McCarthy secured First Team All-American praise indoors for the first time by finishing third in the 800 and ran the fastest indoor 800 by an American in collegiate history (1:45.19).
McCarthy joined teammates Rory Devaney and Travis Martin in the men’s hammer throw as Mustangs that have punched their tickets to nationals so far. The three NCAA qualifiers for Cal Poly are the most by the program since the Mustangs sent three athletes to nationals in 2005 and tied for the most individual qualifiers ever by the men’s team, joining the 1979 squad.
Redshirt junior Michael Chambers brought it in his West Prelims debut, placing 14th overall and fourth in his heat in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 8:42.47, finishing just over two seconds away from grabbing an automatic qualifier spot to the NCAA Championships. Chambers was just .12 seconds off his personal best of 8:42.35 which ranks No. 5 in school history. Two weeks ago, Chambers became the first athlete since Cal Poly’s Nick Woolf in 2016 to sweep the Big West titles in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase and 5,000.
Senior Bryce Kueker capped a strong season by placing 19th overall in the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 8:48.85. Kueker ran the third-fastest time in school history (8:36.78) earlier this year to qualify for West Prelims for the first time.
In his final action as a Mustang, graduate student Chase Walter took 19th overall in the 400 quarterfinals with a time of 46.19 seconds and then ran a blistering 44.95-second split on the anchor leg of Cal Poly’s 4x400 relay, which posted a time of 3:05.86 but was disqualified after more than one step was taken on or outside the lane the Mustangs were assigned. Walter finishes his Cal Poly career as one of the most successful male sprinters to come through the program in recent memory. This season, Walter shattered the indoor school records in the men’s 400 and 600, ran the second-fastest outdoor 400 in program history (46.04 seconds) and posted the third fastest outdoor 800 time in the team’s history (1:47.89). He also helped Cal Poly obliterate a 46-year-old school record in the men’s 4x400 relay. Walter joined the track and field team in 2023 after spending two seasons on the Cal Poly baseball team (2021-22) as a submarine-style pitcher.
Cal Poly wraps up the West Prelims on Saturday as senior Melody Nwagwu is set to compete in the women’s triple jump at 12:30 p.m. PDT while junior Tatiana Cornejo will run in the women’s 5,000 at 6:10 p.m. PDT. Live coverage on ESPN+ starts at 3 p.m. PDT and live results are available HERE.
Cal Poly Results
NCAA West Prelims Day 3
Men’s 400-meter quarterfinals: 19, Chase Walter, 46.19.
Men’s 800-meter quarterfinals: 5, Aidan McCarthy, 1:47.01.
Men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase: 14, Michael Chambers, 8:42.47. 19, Bryce Kueker, 8:48.85.
Men’s 4x400-meter relay: Cal Poly, (Vincent Atilano, MacGregor TeSelle, Alexander Franco, Chase Walter), DQ.
