COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Arthur Petersen's quest for a national championship got one foot closer on Wednesday as the UT Arlington freshman highlighted the Mavericks' opening day of the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary from Texas A&M's E.B. Cushing Stadium.
 
Petersen finished 9th in the javelin thanks to a throw of 66.20m (217-02) to automatically qualify into next month's NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., where he will be vying to win UTA's second individual national title in the last three years the event has been contested (canceled last year due to COVID-19).
 
Petersen – the 2021 Sun Belt Champion whose best throw this year of 77.75m (255-01) is still the 3rd-best in the nation – began his day out of the third flight with a delivery of 61.65m (202-03). That left him 19th place with two throws remaining.
 
The Denmark native wasted little time in removing any doubt he would qualify as his second throw was the one which propelled him to nationals. Petersen closed his afternoon with a third, and final, throw of 65.08m (213-06).
 
In addition to Petersen, UTA had three of its eight regional qualifiers competing on Wednesday as Joel Bengtsson and Medric Roberson laced them up in the 110m hurdles, and DaVontay Kennedy ran in the 200m.
 
Freshman Bengtsson and junior Roberson were both placed in heat one of six needing to finish in the top 3 of the heat or have one of the next six-best times to automatically move on to Friday's regional final of 24 athletes. Bengtsson finished 5th in the heat with a time of 13.94 (+3 ms), while Roberson crossed in 14.66 (+3 ms).
 
Bengtsson – the 2021 Sun Belt outdoor bronze medalist in the 110m hurdles – barely missed advancing as his time was 26th overall and just .04 out of a qualifying position.
 
UTA's final competitor on Wednesday was Kennedy. With the identical advancing parameters in place for the six heats of the 200m, the freshman ran a 21.44 to finish 7th in the heat, but did not move on with a top-24 showing.
 
The NCAA prelims feature the top-48 declared athletes in their event(s) in the West and East regions (East is also taking place this week in Jacksonville, Fla.). The top-12 finalists from each region advance to the national championships to comprise the 24-person fields.
 
Two more Mavs will look to advance, or get one race closer, to the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships when action resumes on Thursday. First up, freshman Liv Cantby will compete in the javelin beginning at 1:30 p.m. At night, Shelby West will seek to move on to Saturday's final in the 400m hurdles beginning with the prelims at 8:20 p.m.
 
Action will once again be broadcast and streamed on SEC Network+ beginning at 6 p.m. Live results will be available all day via Flash Results.
 
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