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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kaila Gibson and Sarah Medved, training partners and close friends for the Portland State track & field team, qualified alongside one another for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds as the first round entries for next week's meet were announced Thursday. Medved qualified for the second straight year in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Gibson qualified for the first time in her career in the women's 10,000 meters
 
The top 48 declared student-athletes in each individual event qualify automatically for the NCAA West Prelims. Medved made the cut as the west region's 36th-ranked athlete in the steeplechase, while Gibson ranked 38th in the 10,000 meters before scratches.
 
Both events only have one round of competition at the NCAA West Prelims, with the top 12 in each event advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 5-8, in Austin, Texas. Gibson runs in the semifinals of the 10,000 meters at 9 p.m. (PT) next Thursday, while Medved runs in the quarterfinals of the steeplechase at 8:20 p.m. (PT) next Friday.
 
Medved ran the steeplechase at last year's NCAA West Prelims, which also took place at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento. Medved was the first-ever Viking – man or woman – to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in the steeplechase last season, and repeated the feat this season. Medved also repeated as the Big Sky steeplechase champion this season, a year after becoming the Vikings' first-ever Big Sky champion in the event.
 
Medved set her qualifying time at the Mt. SAC Relays, the same meet at which she set her qualifying time last season. Medved finished in 10:23.36 at this year's Mt. SAC Relays, less than two seconds off the school record of 10:21.56 that she set at the previous year's Mt. SAC Relays.
 
Gibson, meanwhile, will make her debut at the NCAA West Prelims after running an 80-second personal best in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. Gibson finished in 34:12.51 at Stanford, crushing her previous best time of 35:24.64, which came as she was making a last-ditch effort to qualify at last year's Big Sky meet.
 
Gibson is only the fourth Viking women's runner to qualify for the NCAA West Prelims in the 10,000 meters, and the first since Amanda Boman in 2016. Besides Gibson and Boman, Sarah Dean and Camelia Mayfield also qualified for the women's 10k in 2014 and 2015, respectively.