AUSTIN, Texas – The Wisconsin women's track and field team punched its first tickets to the NCAA outdoor championships as Brenna Detra and Emma Haugen earned qualifying spots during the second day of the 2017 NCAA West Preliminary Round at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
 
Hopping Haugen: Sophomore punches ticket to NCAA meet
UW sophomore Emma Haugen faced a moment of truth in the women's high jump as she prepared for her third attempt at 5 feet, 10 ½ inches.
 
A clearance at the height would give the La Grange, Illinois, native a berth at the NCAA championships, while a miss would send the sophomore home packing.
 
Haugen came through with a clutch clearance to advance to the NCAA championships for the first time in her career as she tied for seventh in the event.
 
"I was just like let's do this," Haugen said. "I knew that I just had to trust what I've done in practice all along and that was the only way it was going to work. Going into the jump I think I knew I was going to make it because I gave that jump everything I had.
 
The sophomore passed the first two bars and entered competition at 5-8 ½. After clearing her first height on the second attempt she ran into trouble at 5-10 ½ after missing her first two tries before clearing it on her third and final attempt.
 
"Sometimes in life you have to throw caution in the wind," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "Emma did that tonight by passing on the first two bars. That took guts and confidence to do that at this meet. I guess she knew what she was doing and it is awesome to see her rewarded for her efforts with a trip to Eugene"
 
One of two Badgers to clear six feet outdoors, Haugen will wrap up her stellar sophomore season at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday, June 10 at 5 p.m. CT at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
 
Dazzling Detra: Junior advances to Eugene in 400 hurdles
Brenna Detra has accomplished a lot during her Wisconsin career, including program top-10 marks in the indoor 800 meters and the 400 hurdles.
 
One thing that the junior didn't have on her impressive resume was an appearance at the national championships, but that changed on Friday as Detra finished third in her section of the 400 hurdles to advance to the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
 
"Brenna came in to this weekend ranked seventh, but rankings at this level don't mean a lot," Byrne said. "She executed her race plan really well and fought hard for third in her heat to advance to Eugene!"
 
Detra crossed the line third in her heat and 10th overall in 58.43 seconds to automatically earn a spot in Eugene.
 
"I felt a lot better getting ready for my race today than I did yesterday," Detra explained. "There was a pretty hard wind on the back stretch and I was like 'stay composed, you're good, you're good.' I felt really good. Then I did a body check at 200 and I told myself to stay in control because they are going to come on your inside and when they did I responded. I hit another gear and it felt great coming down the home stretch. That's when I closed on everyone and just finished."
 
Detra will race in the semifinals of the 400 hurdles at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday, June 8 at 8:30 p.m. CT.
 
"This is honestly a childhood dream," Detra said of qualifying for the NCAA meet. "I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid and to have the opportunity to race at Wisconsin and do it for the Badgers, it's amazing. I cannot even put into words the feeling. It's great. It's worth it.
 
"That's what makes all of the training we do all year worth it."
 
Ebony McClendon earned a spot in the 200 meter quarterfinals after posting a time of 23.36. The sophomore placed fifth in her heat but her time was fast enough for her to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal at 7:35 p.m. CT.
 
The Badgers close out competition at the NCAA West Preliminary Round Saturday at 6 p.m. as Chinne Okoronkwo is set to compete in the triple jump and Banke Oginni will throw the shot put.