March 20, 2005
Results
Berkeley, CA -
Despite the hard weather at this weekend's Bay Area Blast Off, the entire meet went off without a hitch as Cal athletes dominated every event they participated in. Cal athletes or Cal alumni won all but two events of the events they were entered in. The Cal men and women won all five separate relay events.
Swirling gusts of wind blowing awnings and tents over, along with the constant threat of rain, meant that performances would suffer. Depsite these hinderances, eight Cal athletes managed NCAA Regional qualifying marks in ten events.
WILLIAMS AND FAUBUS QUALIFY TWICE
All-American Rhuben Williams, finished second in both the shot put 17.71m (58-01.25)and discus 54.60m (179-01.05) where he threw qualifying marks in both events. Returning redshirt senior Tony Miranda won the discus with a toss of 54.65m (179-03.05), while Cal alum Amin Nikfar won the shot put at 18.36m (60-03.00). Miranda and Williams led a phalanx of Cal throwers in the discus that placed consecutively down to seventh place. Redshirt freshman Craig Kent finished third in the shot put and was the last golden bear to qualify with his throw of 16.66m (54-08.00).
Other regional qualifiers on the men's side include sophomore Adam Burgh who won the javelin at 59.79m (196-02.00), and freshman Rashaad Nunnally who won the long jump at 7.13m (23-04.75).
The women made their dominance most apparent in the 4x200m relay where Cal's 'A' and 'B' team finished 1-2, ten seconds ahead of the third and fourth place teams. The 'A' team clocked 1:40.90 while the 'B' team ran 1:41.41.
Freshman thrower Missy Faubus, landed regional qualifying marks in both the shot put and discus at 14.77m(48-05.05) and 50.87m(166-10.75) respectively. Faubus bested Williams' double qualifier by winning both of her events instead of placing second.
Freshman Cassandra Strickland, jumped 12.42m (40-09.00) in the triple jump, but due to a wind reading of 5.4m/s well over the allowable limit of 4.0m/s, the mark will not count towards qualifying for the NCAA Regional championship. Junior Antonette Carter's, winning mark in the long jump of 6.09m (20-00.00), which had a wind reading of 3.1 m/s, would count towards a trip to the NCAA Regional championship. Sophomore Giulia Urlando's, winning throw in the hammer of 55.45m (181-11.00) qualifies her for the regional championship as well.
