March 10, 2007

Complete Results

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - California junior Alysia Johnson won the women's 800-meter run in an indoor school-record time of 2:03.47 on Saturday at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Center. Johnson beat Oregon's Rebekah Noble, the runner-up who last year won the 800 title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Johnson's victory helped the Cal women score 15 points and take 15th place in the final team standings. The Cal men scored 11 points to tie for 19th with Oregon and Idaho.

"It was absolutely joyful to watch the kids' hard work become fruitful," said Chris Huffins, Cal's Director of Track and Field. "We've been telling these young men and women for the better part of two years that they could be in top 25 in the nation if they stayed focused and performed. It's an absolute joy to come home with so many All-Americans and to have the women finish 15th and the men 19th."

Arizona State won the women's team championship with 38 points, LSU (33) was second and Tennessee (30) was third. Wisconsin won the men's team title with 40 points, Florida State (35) was second and Texas (34) was third.

Johnson's title is Cal's first NCAA championship since Bevan Hart won the men's decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2000. She is also the first Cal woman to win a track and field NCAA championship since Sheila Hudson won the triple jump and long jump national titles in 1990.

"Last year we felt Alysia was the best half miler in the country," Huffins said. "She had some tactical things to work out to let her true speed show. The biggest difference is she's very race savvy and very confident. She took the race from the beginning and won the race from the very first step to the very last step. There is no substitute for confidence."

"There's some natural maturity and progression," Cal assistant coach Tony Sandoval said of Johnson. "She's a very talented athlete. She's worked very hard. She has tremendous resilience. Rebekah has beaten her several times in a row. That didn't make any difference. Alysia was prepared to do the best job she could. Her race in yesterday's prelim showed me she should run from the front. We felt she could control the race rather than let it control her."

Cal junior Ed Wright took sixth place in the men's high jump with a mark of 2.19 meters (7-2.25). Auburn's Donald Thomas won with a mark of 2.33 (7-7.75), which tied the facility record.

Bears junior Cassandra Strickland also took sixth in her event, the women's triple jump, with a mark of 13.07 meters (42-10.75). Stanford's Erica McClain won with a mark of 13.91 (45-7.75).

In Cal's final event of the NCAA Championships, Bears senior Giliat Ghebray did not finish in the final of the men's 3,000 meters. Northern Arizona's Lopez Lomong won the 3,000 in 7:47.94.

Eight Bears bring home All-America honors: Johnson, Wright, Strickland, sophomore Inika McPherson, who was seventh in yesterday's women's high jump, and the four member of the Cal men's distance medley relay - junior David Torrence, senior Nestor Solis, junior Francis Gadayan and senior Kevin Davis - which took second in yesterday's race.

"Anytime you take kids to national meet who haven't been there before and come home All-American, that's a humungous accomplishment in our sport," Huffins added. "The overall feeling on our staff and with our kids right now is that it's a huge sense of pride. We plan on taking this momentum forward into the outdoor season and beyond."

NCAA Indoor Championships

Cal Results - Saturday

Women's 800-Meter Final
1. Alysia Johnson 2:03.47*.

Men's High Jump Final
6. Ed Wright 2.19 meters (7-2.25).

Women's Triple Jump Final
6. Cassandra Strickland 13.07 meters (42-10.75).

Men's 3000-Meter Final
-- Giliat Ghebray DNF.

* Cal school record