GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Freshman Victoria Imbesi became the first Cornell athlete to earn a spot at the 2010 NCAA Championships, advancing through the preliminary round on Thursday in the opening day of action in Greensboro, N.C. Imbesi was just one of the 13 Cornell athletes to compete in preliminary round action on the first day of competition.

Under the new format adopted this season, the final field for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., are determined by two preliminary rounds, one contested in Greensboro, N.C., and one contested in Austin, Texas. In each event, 48 competitors at each site will compete through rounds of competition until 12 athletes remain. Those 12 at each site will advance to the final round, to be contested on June 9-12 in Eugene.

Most events on the track were to be contested through preliminary heats that would cut the field from 48 athletes to 24, then a quarterfinal that would again cut the field in half to the final 12. In the field events, the full field of 48 athletes compete for three throws or jumps, with the top 16 after three attempts getting another three rounds to better their marks, and the top 12 after all six rounds advancing to Eugene.

The day's first event saw Cornell post the Ivy League's first athlete to advance to the final round when Imbesi uncorked a throw of 146-9 on her first throw to rank fifth. She bettered that mark to 148-10 on her second throw, but slipped down one spot to fifth after being passed by Alabama's Meghan Austin. Despite fouling on her third throw, she still ranked 10th after three throws to qualify for the second set of three throws.

Among the final 16 throwers in the event, only Leslie Bourgeois of Nicholls State could better her mark, as Imbesi finished the preliminary round 11th, with her best throw a full three and a half feet ahead of the 13th-place thrower, East Carolina's Nicole Tozzi.

The men's pole vault was also contested, with Cornell senior Richard Zamora concluding his Big Red career tied for 22nd place. Zamora cleared both of the first two heights, 15-9 and 16-2 3/4, on his first attempt, and then needed his third and final attempt at 16-8 3/4 to clear that height, obliterating his previous career best of 16-1. At 17-0 3/4, which would have made him the first Cornell jumper to clear 17-0, Zamora missed on each of his three tries, one of six athletes in the field to bow out at that height. Still, the senior wound up third all-time on Cornell's outdoor list with his closing performance. The 12th-place performance was Virginia Tech's Jared Jodon, who cleared 17-2 3/4, a mark never eclipsed by a Cornell vaulter.

In the other field event containing Cornell athletes, both Josh Kirkpatrick and Duane Teixeira competed in the long jump, with both athletes not among the final 12 to advance to Eugene. Kirkpatrick posted a best effort of 24-3 on his third and final effort and finished 21st, while Teixeira, still bothered by an injury that hampered him three weeks ago at the Heptagonal Championships, cleared 23-2 3/4 to finish 42nd. Mississippi's Caleb Lee cleared 24-9 1/4 to grab 12th, a mark that only seven Cornellians have ever equaled or bettered.

On the track, Brian Freitas was able to advance to the semifinal round in the 400m hurdles, finishing fourth in the third heat with a time of 51.98. With the top three finishers in each heat advancing with the next six fastest times, Freitas had to sweat out three more heats after he finished to learn if he would be among the 24 advancing. In the end, however, his time was good for 21st overall, moving the sophomore on to Friday's quarterfinal. Running in the same heat was classmate Nick Huber, who finished seventh in the heat and posted a time of 55.40 to place 41st overall.

In the women's 400m hurdles, sophomore Molly Glantz ran 1:00.09, finishing fifth in her heat and winding up in 32nd place overall.

The women's 1500m included senior Kerri Lyons, who ran in the second of four heats, with the top five from each heat plus the next four fastest times advancing to the next round. Lyons finished sixth in her heat with a time of 4:25.07, but was one of those four fastest times, finishing 23rd overall to advance to the quarterfinal round on Saturday.

Senior Marcel van Eeden closed out his individual career in the 400m, finishing his heat in 47.70 seconds, with the qualifying time to advance to the quarterfinals 46.76, a mark only bettered by the legendary Charlie Moore more than 60 years ago.

The men's 800m was contested with freshman Nick Wade in the thick of the running. Wade ran in one of the fastest heats, taking fourth in 1:49.67, with the top three automatically advancing to the quarterfinals. Wade's time was good enough to earn a spot in the quarterfinals anyway, as he took 19th place and booked a place in the next round. For the women's 800m, junior Kimberly Standridge was third in her heat, posting a time of 2:07.96 to claim 19th place overall and move on to the quarterfinal round on Friday.

The men's final event of the day, the 10,000m, was contested differently than every other track event, as all 48 competitors took to the track at the same time, with only the top 12 finishers moving on to Eugene. Cornell had a pair of entries, as freshmen Kevin Johnson and Brett Kelly were among the field, but both did not advance as part of the final 12. Johnson finished in 31:32.33, good enough for 26th place, while Kelly was one of 16 runners who did not finish.