FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Yonca Kutluk (10,000 meters) and Kenna Curry (hammer throw) were the first North Dakota track and field athletes to compete at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Thursday.

Kutluk finished 17th in the 10,000 meters on Thursday night with a time of 34:53.56. By running in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA West Preliminary Round, Kutluk became the first UND runner in history to compete in the event at the NCAA Regional.

The Turkish native qualified for the NCAA West Preliminary Round in the 10,000 meters with a time of 32:57.85 at the Stanford Invitational in April. Kutluk's time at Stanford destroyed the school record by over two and a half minutes, breaking the previous 10,000-meter school record of 35:27.26, which was set by Hannah Oscarson at the 2021 Drake Relays.

At the Summit League Outdoor Championships two weeks ago, Kutluk had three All-Summit League performances. She was the silver medalist in both the 10,000 meters (35:25.78) and 5,000 meters (17:28.37) and also finished with the bronze medal in the 1,500 meters (4:29.87). During the regular season, Kutluk set school records in the 5,000 meters (16:04.26) and 10,000 meters (32:57.85) and posted the No. 2 time in school history in the 1,500 meters (4:25.64).

Thursday morning, Curry competed in the hammer throw and remains just the fifth North Dakota thrower in school history on the women's side to compete in the event at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. She did not record a mark in the hammer throw but became the first Fighting Hawk to throw the hammer at the NCAA Regional in back-to-back years since Molli Detloff threw the hammer at the NCAA West Preliminary Round from 2017-19.

Curry qualified for the meet with a personal-best throw of 207-2 (63.14m) at the Ole Miss Classic, which moved her up to No. 2 in the hammer throw in program history. Her lifetime best is better than the minimum mark for the Olympic trials, which is 206-8 (63.00m). Two weeks ago, Curry posted a pair of all-conference performances at the Summit League Outdoor Championships, gaining the bronze medal in the hammer throw (183-9, 56.02m) and earning the silver medal in the shot put with a throw of 50-4 (15.34m).

Luke Labatte will be the lone Fighting Hawk competing at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Friday and will run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 2:40 p.m. (CT). Live results will continue to be provided by Flash Results.