Six South Dakota State University track and field athletes keep the season alive by qualifying for the NCAA Championship Preliminaries in Eugene, Ore., May 26-28.

Four men and two women qualified for the two-region format by securing a top-48 mark in their region by virtue of their season-best mark. The Jackrabbits compete in the west region. The top 12 athletes in the east and west regions, 24 total, advance to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, June 8-12.

On the men's side, Ben Jasinski qualified in both the high jump and the triple jump. He ranks 12th in the region in the high jump with an SDSU record jump of seven feet one inch. He ranks 37th in the triple jump with a season-best leap of 49-9.

Jared Vlastuin ranks 29th in the long jump with a leap of 24-5.75 and 47th in the high jump with a jump of 6-10.75, the fourth-best jump at SDSU. Vlastuin won the long jump at the 2011 Summit League Outdoor Championships with a leap of 25-2, but the mark does not count toward a NCAA ranking due to the windy conditions at the Summit League Championships.

Sean Burns sneaks into the top-48 in the hammer throw with a school record toss of 191-7, ranked 44th in the region.

On the track, Michael Krsnak ranks 33rd in the region in the 10,000 meters with a time of 29 minutes 40.87 seconds. The time also ranks third on the SDSU all-time top 10 list.

For the women, Brooke Garner qualifies in both the hammer and the discus. She ranks 27th in the hammer and discus with marks of 187-11 and 166-2, respectively. Garner's hammer throw is the SDSU record, while her discus throw is the second-best mark at SDSU.

Mary Wirth ranks 22nd in the region in the high jump with a leap of 5-9.75. The freshman won the high jump at the 2011 Summit League Outdoor Championships with the 24th-ranked and school-record mark.

The top 12 athletes in each region in each event advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 9-12.