The field is now set for the NCAA championships with the top 12 throwers from the East and West regions qualifying on Thursday and Friday. While results were inconsistent, few big surprises took place. All of the 70m throwers (Lomnicy, Henning, Nerdal, Ziegler) qualified in the East region, with most of them passing their finals attempts once they were secure in the top 12. Ziegler, who only too three attempts, also improved his sesaon best to 71.35m and it will be a close competition in two weeks. Conor McCullough (Princeton) did not compete, leading to speculation that he is focusing his efforts on the upcoming World Junior Championships in Canada. The only other surprise in the East region was John Freeman (Georgia). Freeman, ranked sixth in the region entering the meet, fouled out and failed to move on.

While the results in the West region were less impressive, there were a few bright spots. For example, Senior Zack Midles (Washington) threw a personal best to place fifth. Personal bests were rare in both regions. With 48 total throwers and 16 finalists, many throwers just focused on qualifying for nationals and not hitting big throws. Most of the East region throwers were well under their bests ((Henning and Lomnicky both only hrew 67 meters), but they qualified for nationals and that is all that matters.

East Men Hammer Throw
==========================================================================
 Three seeded flights. Worst to best. Random throw order
 Advance top 16 to final for 3 more attempts. Reverse order
 30 minute flight specific warm-up
 Advance top 12 placers from final to Eugene. No ties
    American: A 82.52m  9/7/1996    Lance Deal, NYAC                           
College Best: C 82.56m  8/23/1995   Balazs Kiss, USC                           
   NCAA Meet:   80.86m  5/31/1996   Balazs Kiss, USC                           
    Name                    Year School                 Prelims           
==========================================================================
  1 Alexander Ziegler         FR VA Tech                 71.35mq    234-01 
      69.84m  71.35m  69.12m  PASS  PASS  PASS
  2 Steffen Nerdal            SR Memphis                 68.23mq    223-10 
      64.49m  67.01m  67.56m  66.20m  68.23m  67.78m
  3 Walter Henning            JR LSU                     67.72mq    222-02 
      67.17m  67.72m  66.32m  PASS  PASS  PASS
  4 Marcel Lomnicky           SO VA Tech                 67.55mq    221-07 
      64.76m  FOUL  67.55m  PASS  PASS  PASS
  5 Adonson Shallow           SR SE Louisiana            65.76mq    215-09 
      61.40m  FOUL  FOUL  65.76m  FOUL  FOUL
  6 Michael Lauro             SO LSU                     64.48mq    211-06 
      64.48m  FOUL  63.87m  64.13m  63.60m  64.00m
  7 Branislav Danis           SR Georgia                 63.53mq    208-05 
      62.19m  FOUL  60.45m  63.05m  62.70m  63.53m
  8 Timothy Morse             SR Radford                 63.30mq    207-08 
      60.77m  62.96m  61.51m  63.30m  60.61m  61.89m
  9 Mike Zajac                JR S. Carolina             63.14mq    207-02 
      63.14m  62.79m  60.86m  62.47m  FOUL  61.04m
 10 Matej Muza                SR VA Tech                 62.56mq    205-03 
      61.21m  61.92m  61.52m  60.02m  FOUL  62.56m
 11 Matthew Gac               SR Buffalo                 61.99mq    203-04 
      FOUL  55.95m  60.42m  61.99m  59.57m  61.20m
 12 Zach Berg                 SR Clemson                 61.65mq    202-03 
      FOUL  61.65m  59.88m  58.91m  FOUL  FOUL
 13 Matt Pfleger              JR Kent State              61.24m     200-11 
      60.92m  61.24m  60.01m  60.97m  FOUL  FOUL
 14 Denis Mahmic              FR VA Tech                 61.12m     200-06 
      58.94m  FOUL  61.12m  60.45m  59.95m  60.26m
 15 Wilfredo deJesus Elias    JR Albany                  60.80m     199-06 
      58.38m  60.80m  60.11m  57.18m  60.76m  FOUL
 16 Mark Van Orden            SR Navy                    59.25m     194-05 
      55.34m  58.51m  59.25m  FOUL  55.60m  57.53m
 17 Knut Syversen             JR Memphis                 58.98m     193-06 
 18 Anthony Agrusa            JR Michigan St.            58.61m     192-03 
 19 Jeremy Postin             FR Florida                 58.59m     192-03 
 20 Bryce Buffaloe            SR Temple                  58.56m     192-01 
 21 Brendan Lodge             SR Michigan                58.45m     191-09
 22 Max Mays                  SO Ohio State              58.02m     190-04
 23 Jason Jensen              SO Coastal Carolina        58.00m     190-03
 24 Seid Mujanovic            SR Manhattan               57.86m     189-10
 25 Travis Whitfield          SR Fla State               57.78m     189-07
 26 Craig Pearce              JR Princeton               57.07m     187-03
 27 Grant West                SR Temple                  56.99m     187-00
 28 Dennis Aliotta            SO E. Carolina             56.97m     186-11
 29 Jeffrey Kaste             SR New Hampshire           56.86m     186-06
 30 Christoph Hutschalik      SO Gardner-Webb            56.67m     185-11
 31 James Eric                SR Kent State              56.17m     184-03
 32 Faisal Muhammad           SR SE Louisiana            56.13m     184-02
 33 Alex Padgett              JR Clemson                 55.51m     182-01
 34 Larry Lundy               SR Monmouth                55.11m     180-10
 35 Jack Brady                SR Harvard                 55.07m     180-08
 36 Greg Davis                JR Notre Dame              54.81m     179-10
 37 Paul DeTurk               JR New Hampshire           54.19m     177-09
 38 Tom Davis                 SO Ohio State              54.11m     177-06
 39 Robert Keogh              JR Temple                  53.81m     176-06
 40 Matt Dobson               SR Radford                 53.70m     176-02
 41 Alex Lippai               SR Dartmouth               53.62m     175-11
 42 Cory Eck                  JR Penn St.                53.39m     175-02
 43 Vincent Elardo            JR Monmouth                53.18m     174-06 
 -- Malcolm Styers            JR App. State                FOUL  
 -- Eric Hubbard              SO Akron                     FOUL 
 -- Brian Soverns             SR W. Kentucky               FOUL 
 -- David Scheidt             SR Georgia                   FOUL 
 -- John Freeman              SR Georgia                   FOUL 

West Men Hammer Throw
==========================================================================               
    Name                    Year School                 Prelims           
==========================================================================
  1 Jason Lewis               SR Arizona State           66.31mq    217-07
      66.19m  65.34m  65.04m  FOUL  66.31m  65.23m                        
  2 Trey Henderson            JR Southern California     66.13mq    216-11
      61.23m  66.13m  64.32m  63.58m  65.00m  66.13m                      
  3 Dimitrios Fylladitakis    JR Texas-El Paso           65.78mq    215-10
      65.78m  FOUL  PASS  PASS  PASS  PASS                                
  4 James Rogan               SR Idaho                   65.52mq    214-11
      61.86m  58.71m  63.46m  65.52m  63.65m  63.48m                      
  5 Zack Midles               SR Washington              64.81mq    212-07
      64.81m  63.82m  FOUL  63.86m  63.08m  FOUL                          
  6 Oliver Whaley             JR Brigham Young           64.09mq    210-03
      60.18m  63.37m  FOUL  62.81m  64.09m  FOUL                          
  7 KP Singh                  JR Oklahoma                63.87mq    209-06
      61.60m  63.53m  FOUL  63.87m  FOUL  62.60m                          
  8 Jordan Stray              JR Oregon                  63.79mq    209-03
      FOUL  FOUL  62.05m  63.20m  63.79m  FOUL                            
  9 Brad Millar               SR DePaul                  63.73mq    209-01
      59.59m  58.29m  62.58m  FOUL  63.71m  63.73m                        
 10 J.C. Lambert              SO Southern Illinois       63.22mq    207-05
      60.95m  61.38m  60.88m  63.22m  62.26m  FOUL                        
 11 Beau Whitney              SR Idaho                   61.84mq    202-11
      61.07m  61.19m  FOUL  61.05m  61.84m  60.15m                        
 12 Hans Eriksson             SR Texas-El Paso           61.61mq    202-01
      59.45m  61.45m  61.61m  59.26m  59.04m  60.85m                      
 13 Angus Taylor              SO Washington              61.28m     201-00
      60.48m  FOUL  59.41m  61.28m  60.57m  60.46m                        
 14 Curtis Durocher           SR Northern Arizona        61.26m     201-00
      60.19m  60.28m  60.95m  60.16m  61.26m  FOUL                        
 15 Carter Wells              JR Stanford                60.02m     196-11
      59.70m  59.85m  60.02m  59.79m  FOUL  FOUL                          
 16 Brett Suckstorf           SR Nebraska                59.84m     196-04
      59.60m  58.87m  59.84m  FOUL  FOUL  58.84m                         
 17 Matt Banse                SO Iowa                    59.76m     196-01
 18 Tim Greene                SR Fresno State            59.56m     195-05
 19 Micah Hegerle             FR Minnesota               59.43m     195-00
 20 Joe Paradiso              SR Southern Illinois       59.40m     194-10
 21 Alex Nelson               SO Boise State             59.38m     194-10
 22 Scott Penny               JR Oregon                  59.33m     194-08
 23 Eric Petersen             SR Nebraska                58.78m     192-10
 24 Brandon Colbert           JR SE Missouri             58.76m     192-09
 25 Matt McHugh               JR Illinois                58.69m     192-07
 26 Trevor Kraychir           SO Boise State             57.59m     188-11
 27 Sam Lambert               SR Wyoming                 57.50m     188-08
 28 Matt Langdon              SR Stephen F. Austin       57.35m     188-02
 29 Jon Arthur                SO Stephen F. Austin       57.29m     187-11
 30 Josh Koglin               JR Iowa State              56.94m     186-10
 31 Zach Parry                SO Weber State             56.53m     185-05
 32 Chris Holly               JR Missouri                56.45m     185-02
 33 Sean Burns                JR South Dakota State      56.43m     185-02
 34 Pat Eckerson              SR Montana State           55.50m     182-01
 35 Robert Drye               SO Air Force               55.32m     181-06
 36 Alex Butler               SR Northridge              55.19m     181-01
 37 Tyler Kleinhuizen         SO Minnesota               55.03m     180-06
 38 Ryan Shumaker             SR Southern Illinois       54.93m     180-02
 39 Alex Umstead              JR Santa Barbara           54.88m     180-01
 40 Logan Hollenkamp          JR North Dakota State      54.70m     179-05
 41 Ben Stancombe             FR Iowa                    54.04m     177-03
 42 Ian Lettow                JR Colorado State          54.01m     177-02
 43 Collin Otto               SO Southern Illinois       53.16m     174-05
 44 Jeff Kluge                SR Marquette               53.09m     174-02
 45 Scott Johnson             SR North Dakota State      52.08m     170-10
 46 Julius Joseph             SO Cal State-Fullerton     50.93m     167-01          
 -- Miles Palacios            SR California                FOUL           
 -- Zack Richards             SO Iowa State                FOUL 

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