Results

SACRAMENTO - Improved, albeit windy, weather greeted the athletes on Thursday, the second day of the NCAA championships at Sacramento State. After the gloomy conditions that hovered over the athletes from the first day, the change was certainly welcome as the morning's rain gave way to more favorable conditions.

Senior David Glasgow began the day's competition in the qualifying round of the men's high jump. The high jump would continue until 16 or fewer jumpers remain at a given bar height. If less than 12 athletes qualify for a given bar height than a formula is applied to determine which competitor will advance based on misses. Glasgow would jump eighth on the second pit. Glasgow cleared the first height of 6-08.75 on his first try and went over 6-10.75 with no trouble either, but he had a wave of relief wash over his face when he cleared 7-0.5 on his second try, since that height ended up as the cut-off mark for the finals. Only four other jumpers had series more perfect than Glasgow's. Exactly 16 athletes ended up clearing the height to compete in Saturday's finals.

Antonette Carter would have a full day for herself. After running twice in the 200m within a two-hour time span, Carter would have to compete in the finals of the long jump with only 30 minutes of rest. Carter took care of the 200m in short order. The junior ran a controlled race in the qualifying round, getting out quickly while Shalonda Solomon of South Carolina moved on the entire field from the inside. Coming off the turn, Carter was in the front with Solomon only slightly ahead. Down the straight, Carter stayed strong as Natalie Knight of Florida passed her for second. Carter then held off Shareese Woods of North Carolina to beat the sophomore for the last automatic qualifying spot by only .01 seconds. Carter's final time in the opening round was 23.41.

An hour and half later Carter would have to race again in the semifinals. Here the athletes would have to run for place since only the top four from each heat plus one time qualifier would advance to the final. At the gun, Carter was out well and the field was largely unchanged as it accelerated through the turn. Solomon had a clear lead on the field off the turn with Carter in the middle of the pack. Coming down the straight with 50m to go, Carter was in fourth, but she was running a perfect clip that would hold off the rest of the field without wasting effort to catch the leaders. Carter came across the line at 23.16 to set a new school record and qualify for the finals at the seventh spot, with her first All-American honors all but guaranteed.

Between Carter's outstanding 200m heats, freshman Alysia Johnson secured her own spot in the finals. Johnson got out well and settled into the pack through 400m. At the bell, the field began picking up, but Johnson was not responding to the pace change as the rest of the field ran away from her. At 500m, Johnson began jostling with Antoinette Gorham of Tennessee and the two athletes exchanged words coming off the turn. With 250m left Johnson was in last. Looking as though she was out of contention, Johnson began chasing the field with 100m to go, running down Gorham and the rest of the field to get all the way to third for the last automatic qualifying spot. Johnson's time of 2:05.49 gets her into Saturday's final and sets a new lifetime best for the second day in a row. Johnson's new time beats her old best of 2:05.92 by nearly a half second. Gorham ran 2:06.06 and did not advance.

Osarhiemen Omwanghe ran into difficulties right away in the women's 400mH. The junior hit the second hurdle hard, losing a lot of momentum in the critical acceleration phase. Omwanghe was unable to make up the deficit against the other runners and finished in 61.88. The last time to advance was Allison Erzinger of Oklahoma State at 58.56.

The 4x400m relay had its work cut out for them. The team was entered with a time of 3:37.62 and would have to chop roughly five to six seconds off that time to have any hopes of making the final. Junior Whitney Schmucker got out slowly and the field was clearly ahead of her going into the second turn. As Schmucker passed off to Alysia Johnson in sixth place, Johnson looked as though she might have a chance at chasing down Cornell to move into fifth. Johnson closed to within a few meters but could not affect the pass. Senior Shannan Hawes was next in what was beginning to look like her last chance to run in a Cal uniform. The senior stuck behind Cornell with the race leaders a full 50m ahead. At the end of the leg, Hawes started losing steam and Cornell ran away from her. Jarvis was unable to change anything as she got the baton a full 10m behind Cornell. The senior put up an effort, but the field had too much distance on her to make anything up. The Bears' final time was 3:42.82 to finish 19th overall.

As the 10,000m winded down, Cal's Carter sat in seventh with one jump left. The junior jumped 20-5.75 on her first jump, putting her in fifth place through the first round. She wasn't able to improve through the second and third jumps, going exactly 20-4.5 two straight times, but Carter had an extra three to utilize in the final that only took eight athletes from the original 12. After failing to improve again on her fourth jump, Carter skipped her fifth to try prepare for a better jump on her sixth and final attempt. Carter missed the board and bailed on the jump, finishing seventh overall for Cal's first All-American of the meet. "I'm extremely happy to have my first All-American honors, I just wish it hadn't taken so long. I'm just glad I've got [Cal head] coach [Chris] Huffins and [Cal trainer] Elaine Garcia to piece me back together," referring to her ankle injury suffered in her last jump.

Carter is Huffins' first All-American as a coach at Cal and his first female All-American.

Competition continues tomorrow with Brooke Meredith in the first leg of the heptathlon, freshman Cassandra Strickland in the triple jump and junior Paul Teinert in the javelin.