SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A pair of Thunderbirds are headed to the NCAA National Champions in Austin, Texas, as both George Espino and Skyler Porcaro finished amongst the top-12 in their events at NCAA West Prelims.

Porcaro started the day off right for the T-Birds in the men's javelin, throwing a 222' 3" to finish in ninth place and book his first trip to the National Championships.

Later in the evening, Espino competed in the quarterfinals of the men's 800-meter, and finished in 12th place with a 1:48.39 to secure his spot at Nationals for the first time.

Both Espino and Porcaro are in their final season with the Thunderbirds, making their accomplishments that much more satisfying.  

With those two advancing, the Thunderbirds have matched their total from 2018 when both Tre James and Mike Tate made the trip. However, there is another full day of competition to improve on that number.

In the women's 800-meter, Linnea Saltz saw her junior season come to a close as she ended up 20th in the West Region with a time of 2:06.74. She has one more season to compete for the Thunderbirds following her first trip to the NCAA Preliminary round.

Competition will conclude on Saturday with five Thunderbirds set to compete.

The meet in Sacramento is being ran at Hornet Stadium for the second season in a row. It is being streamed on FloTrack for a fee. A link to live results is available on www.suutbirds.com.  

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Head to www.suutbirds.com for all Thunderbird athletics news.