MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's track and field team opens national championship action at the 2018 NCAA West Preliminary Championships this weekend in Sacramento, California. Action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Hornet Stadium is slated to start at 2 p.m. CT and the meet can be seen live online via FloTrack.

The top-12 finishers from the NCAA West Preliminary Championships will join the top-12 finishers from the NCAA East Preliminary Championships at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 6-9, at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Fans can follow Badger action on Twitter (@BadgerTrackXC) for live updates and follow up on UWBadgers.com for recaps after each day of the meet. 
 
1. ELLENWOOD PREPARES TO SOAR: After earning the No. 1 seed in the heptathlon at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Georgia Ellenwood looks to punch another ticket to Eugene as the senior will compete in the high jump at this week's NCAA West Prelims. Ellenwood is coming off of a record-setting performance in the heptathlon at the 2018 Big Ten Outdoor Championships as her score of 6,173 is not only the No. 1 performance in the NCAA this year, but it makes the Langley, British Columbia, native the No. 10 performer in NCAA Division I history. Part of Ellenwood's success in the heptathlon at Big Tens was due to her high jump clearance of 5-10 (1.78 meters), which ranks 23rd in the region. 

2. THE RARE DOUBLE: Freshman Sophia Rivera is the only female student-athlete this week to compete in both the shot put and javelin at the NCAA Preliminary Championships as the standout is seeded eighth in the javelin with a school-record mark of 175-2 (53.40m) while she sits 13th in the region in the shot put with a season-best heave of 55-1 1/2 (16.80m). The Brentwood, Missouri, native is coming off of a third-place showing in the javelin at Big Tens.

3. DETERMINED DETRA It's been a challenging 12 months for Brenna Detra, who shined at last year's NCAA West Prelims in the 400 hurdles before suffering a massive knee injury at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The senior has come close to replicating her success from last year this season, as she finished fourth at the 2018 Big Ten Outdoor Championships in a season-best time of 57.70, which is just shy of her PR of 57.56. Detra enters this weekend as the No. 10 seed in the 400 hurdles.

4. A BADGER FIRST: For the first time in program history, the Badgers will sport a 4x100 relay at the qualifying round for the NCAA Outdoor Championships as the quartet of Meagan Blair, Gabby DesRosiers, Brenna Detra and Ebony McClendon enter this weekend's meet seeded 19th in the region. The relay has broken the school record twice this year and finished seventh at Big Tens thanks to a program-best time of 44.83.

5. TAYLOR TIME: Taylor Amann looks to extend her historic career this weekend at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships as the senior looks to punch her ticket for her second NCAA championship meet. A three-time conference champion in the pole vault, Amann this weekend as the No. 3 seed in the West thanks to her PR of 14-3 1/2 (4.36m) set at the Big Ten championships. The school record holder in the indoor pole vault, Amann is now tied for the program record in the outdoor vault with Jenny Soceka.