May 14, 2005
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Los Angeles, CA -
Day one of the Pac-10 Track and Field championships got off today at Drake
Stadium on the campus of UCLA. After the Pac-10 Multi-Event championships from
last weekend, the Cal men stood in third on the strength of a third place finish
in the decathlon by junior Jonas Hallgrimsson who scored 7,002 points in
his first complete decathlon as a Golden Bear. Senior All-American Brooke
Meredith was also third last weekend in the women's heptathlon with 5,446
points. Her finish put the women in a tie for second place with Oregon.
The events today consisted largely of trials for track events to be contested
tomorrow with the exception of the field events and some of the distance events,
which were run as finals.
Overall the women's team managed to qualify all but one athlete from the
first day for the finals and scored a total of 15 points for sixth place. The
men's team scored a total of 38 points and stand in fourth place.
TRACK FINALS AND FIELD EVENTS
MEN'S HAMMER-Senior All-American Rhuben Williams and freshman John
Ludden would lead the Bears off in the men's hammer throw. Ludden used his
safety throw on his very first attempt with an easy 177-11 and followed that
with his best throw of the day at 184-6. Williams had a difficult series where
he used his safety throw first, but was forced to stand with that mark. Williams
threw 182-5 right away, but couldn't put together a decent throw. He fouled on
his final throw of the prelims, and then again on his first and final throws in
the finals. Ludden and Williams ended up finishing sixth and seventh,
respectively for a total of five points.
WOMEN'S SHOT PUT-Freshman Missy Faubus had a difficult time early-on
fouling her first throw and putting up a safety throw in the second round that
didn't get her into the finals. Her final throw was also a foul and Faubus would
have to sit out for the finals. Her only fair throw was 43-1.75. Sophomore
Kelechi Anyanwu meanwhile had a great series of throws and had a lifetime
best in her very last attempt at 48-6.25 in the finals. She finished ninth.
WOMEN'S LONG JUMP-Junior Antonette Carter and junior Elzunia Lamb
both scored in the long jump. Carter, who had just finished setting a school
record in the 100m prelim, was in third place going into the finals with Lamb in
fifth. During the finals Carter failed to improve on her mark from the prelims
of 20-0.25 while Lamb managed to improve in her last two jumps with a final leap
of 19-10.75 to improve to fourth. Meanwhile, Porchea Carroll of ASU saved her
only serious effort for her last jump and moved all the way from seventh to
third, pushing Carter and Lamb down a place with a mark of 20-1.5. Cal won nine
points between Carter and Lamb.
MEN'S JAVELIN-Junior Paul Teinert posted a lifetime best in winning
Cal's first event of the 2005 championships. Teinert threw 235-11 on his very
first throw to take the lead and quash any hopes the rest of the field had for
winning the event as the nearest mark was Lars Laursen of Oregon at 222-2. It
would be Teinert's only throw over 70.0m as he fouled the rest of his throws
during the prelims and threw 69.97m (226-3) in his last throw of the finals. "It
went really well, I couldn't have asked for a better day, good weather always
makes you feel good, but I felt really healthy, and during warm-ups I knew that
I was going to have a big throw. It feels good to get that throw off early and
then you can get after those other throw without worrying about fouling." Jonas
Hallgrimsson was in seventh going into the finals with a throw of 201-4 with
Tommy Skipper of Oregon in sixth with a throw of 207-3. Hallgrimsson used his
very last throw to put out a a lifetime best of 213-6 and pass Skipper up for
fifth. Skipper tried to respond with a throw of 207-3, but was too short to take
the points back. The two athletes scored a total of 14 points for the men's
team.
MEN'S POLE VAULT-Senior Scott Sobieralski no-heighted. The
decathlete's lifetime best stands at 16-6.75. The event was won by Kim Yoo of
UCLA at 17-9. The lowest scoring height was 16-0.75 by Andy Young of Oregon.
Last year's champion, Tommy Skipper of Oregon no-heighted as well.
MEN'S LONG JUMP-Senior Brandon Williams managed a seventh place finish
by jumping very near his lifetime best of 24-2.5 set this year at the MPSF
championships. The extremely thick field saw three jumpers over 25-0 with the
winning mark of 25-6 set by Trevell Quinly of ASU. Quinley upset the largely
favored Allen Simms of USC.
MEN'S SHOT PUT-After his disappointing finish in the hammer throw, Rhuben
Williams had to go home with his family to get his mind right for the shot put.
The senior took advantage of the large time gap between the events to have. "I
was about two steps away from crying, so I just went home and had a sandwich
with my mom and a friend and spent some time with the family. I saw my little
nephew for the first time, he's like seven-weeks old, I was in a really good
mood." After getting it together, Williams closed the final round of the prelims
with a monster toss of 64-2.5 to come within inches of his lifetime best of
64-9.75 and to tie Sean Shields of Arizona. Going into the finals Shields
answered Williams challenge with a 65-5.5 heave to take the outright lead.
Williams fought back with two more throws over 60-0 but couldn't improve in the
finals to take second in one of the strongest conferences in the country for the
shot put. Freshman Craig Kent finished seventh with a throw of 56-8.5 to
help Cal score a total of 10 points in the event.
WOMEN'S 3,000SC-Sophomore Amanda Thornberry finished 12th among a
field of 16 athletes with a time of 11:25.63. Her best time is 11:17.15 set last
weekend at Sacramento. The lowest scoring time was Liz Lindgren of Arizona State
at 10:47.62.
MEN'S 3,000SC-Junior Kevin Davis ran an extremely strong race. The
junior has been struggling against illness and injury all season and has not
been able to produce a mark near his lifetime best of 8:55.56, set last year.
The junior ran out with the rest of the pack and stayed near the middle of a
fairly broken up field through the first four laps. With five laps to go, Davis
was running at the back of the pack with the leaders roughly 80m ahead. At three
laps to go Davis began to pick up the pace and move on some of the runners ahead
of him. In the closing 400m, Davis was still 80m behind the leaders as the field
began kicking. With 200m left Davis began to kick fiercely and after the final
water barrier was moving strongly on Joshua Ludwig of Arizona. Davis' momentum
carried him past Ludwig in the final 50m and almost got him past Kyle Alcorn of
Oregon. Davis' time of 8:56.57 crushes his seasonal best of 9:27.50. The time
also qualifies him for the NCAA Regional championships in two weeks. Score one
point for the men's team.
QUALIFYING RACES
WOMEN'S 1,500m- Senior Lindsay Maclise qualified for the finals by
place, running a time of 4:32.62. She has a best of 4:27.77 set at this year's
Stanford Invitational. Senior All-American Bridget Duffy qualified for
the finals by time in a faster heat where she ran 4:30.89. Her best is 4:22.55
set in 2004. The fastest qualifying time was 4:26.22 by USC's Iryna Vashchuk.
MEN'S 110mH-Sophomore Thomas Mack came into the event with a best of
14.12 set earlier this year at the Illinois-Cal duel meet. At the gun Oregon's
Eric Mitchum blazed out of the blocks quickly and ran away with the race from
the first hurdle on. Mack cleared the first and second hurdles with the rest of
the pack, but could not break away from the group. Mack stayed with the group,
but lost ground at the fifth hurdle when he clipped it with his trail leg and
fell back to finish sixth in the second heat at 14.53 to end up only two places
away from qualifying.
WOMEN'S 100mH-Junior Osarhiemen Omwanghe, who has run largely
unchallenged and consequently unpushed, set a seasonal best of 13.59 and was the
only athlete in the top eight to run better than her seed mark. By the second
hurdle Omwanghe was in third place behind Dawn Harper of UCLA and Candice David
of USC. By the fourth hurdle the field developed essentially as it would finish
with Diana Pickler of WSU in fourth and a trailing pack behind her. At the fifth
hurdle though David crashed the barrier and fell into the sixth hurdle
disqualifying her and giving the race to Harper. Osarhiemen took second by an
easy margin over Pickler to qualify for tomorrow's finals. Virginia Powell of
USC was the top qualifier at 12.95.
MEN'S 400m-Junior Nestor Solis ran evenly through the first 200m, a
departure from his usual style of getting out hard and fast. Despite running
evenly the rest of the field steadily made up ground on him. With 100m to go,
Solis had lost nearly all his steam and finished in eighth place, coming in at
48.28. Sophomore Jonathan Suddaby ran a seasonal best of 47.90 in his
heat of the 400m. The sophomore got out strongly with the rest of the field and
was seventh coming off the straight. Suddaby picked it up and started to move up
on Stanford's Curtis Goehring whom he steadily closed on all the way down the
straight but could not quite catch the Cardinal. The slowest qualifying time for
the finals was 46.80 by Washington's Bruce Jackson.
WOMEN'S 100m-Antonette Carter had a stellar effort in the 100m enroute to a
school record time of 11.43 with a barely legal 1.9 m/s tailwind. Weatherspoon
of USC got out first and had the race in her pocket in the first 10m. Carter's
own strong start allowed her to separate from the field by 15m. Carter began
making up ground on the Trojan with 60m to go, but Weatherspoon's start was too
strong as she came in at 11.34 to have the fastest qualifying time that day. In
the second heat Senior Shannan Hawes produced a lifetime best as well
where she finished third in her heat with a strong and even race that had the
finishing places cemented halfway through. Hawes time of 11.75 beats her old
lifetime best of 11.84 set earlier this year at the Cal v Nevada duel meet.
MEN'S 100m-Freshman Rashaad Nunnally had a fast start in the first
heat of the men's 100m but was not able to keep the lead through the end of the
race as he fell behind the field to finish eighth at 10.77. The heat was won by
Phillip Francis of USC in 10.46. In the final heat Cal fared slightly
better as Senior Toby Atawo finished seventh at 10.69 into a headwind of
0.3 m/s. The heat was won by Marvin Anderson of USC at 10.28 who was also the
fastest time of the day. The slowest qualifying time was 10.51.
WOMEN'S 800m-In one of the strongest events for the Cal women, Freshman
Alysia Johnson ran a strong and in control race to win the first heat. At
the break Johnson ran in third behind runners from Stanford and USC where she
would remain for much of the race. The placing remained largely unchanged
through the first lap and into the first turn of the second lap. With 300m to go
Johnson was passed to fall to fourth, but calmly kept her pace through the final
turn where she was almost passed again. Coming off the turn Johnson began her
charge, but looked as though she was boxed in on the inside as the rest of the
field began to spread to the outside lanes. Johnson refused to be held back and
threaded her way between the Stanford and USC runners that had been leading the
whole time for first place. With 90m to go Johnson was in first and ran ahead of
the field to finish in 2:08.70.
The second heat feature the middle distance prowess of Senior Chloe Jarvis
and Junior Whitney Schmucker who ran a very coordinated race to finish
first and third, respectively. Jarvis got out fast and was first to the pole and
going into the turn was in third with Schmucker right behind her. Through 400m
both runners ran right next to each other and behind the leading pair. Coming
into the first turn of the final lap Jarvis moved into third as Schmucker sat
behind her running comfortably as they both came into the straight where Jarvis
passed a runner to move into third while Schmucker steadily made up ground on
the same runner to pass at the end of the straight. With Jarvis and Schmucker
running second and third coming into the final straight, Jarvis began to pick up
the pace on the leader, Ashley Freeman of Stanford, to casually pass in the
final strides of the race for a winning time of 2:08.42 with Schmucker finishing
in a close third at 2:08.85. All three Cal athletes moved on to the finals.
MEN'S 800m-Freshman Alex McClary came into a strong field with a brand
new 1:48.84 lifetime best under his belt. Sharing a lane with Michael Garcia of
Stanford, the freshman had a hard time getting to the pole quickly. Coming out
of the break McClary stood in fifth and ran on the outside lanes coming into the
second turn with a tight pack of runners. The pack jostled about through the
final straight with lots of contact between the runners and at the bell McClary
was in sixth. With 300m to go McClary moved into fifth as the pack dissolved
while different runners started their kicks at different times. McClary took it
easy and waited to start his kick at the top of the final turn after he had
fallen back to seventh place. McClary stormed down the turn to pass runners
through the straight and ran a comfortable qualifying time of 1:50.50.
WOMEN'S 400mH-Osarhiemen Omwanghe and Brooke Meredith lined up for the second
heat, which saw both athletes qualify for the finals based on time. Omwanghe ran
a strong race and looked to have third place locked up until runners from UCLA
and Oregon passed her in the closing strides of the race to give her fifth.
Omwanghe was saved the effort though as she still qualified for the finals with
a time of 1:00.45 with Meredith right behind her at 1:01.46. The fastest
qualifying time was 59.65 by Undine Becker of Stanford.
MEN'S 400mH-Thomas Mack ran a strong race and ran as though performing
penance for not making the finals in the 110mH earlier. The sophomore ran with
the leaders coming into the final turn and setup to run cleanly down the
straight. Mack stayed in fourth coming off the turn and all the way through the
tape to run within .06 seconds of his lifetime best. His final time of 52.55
qualifies him by time for tomorrow's finals. Sophomore Craig Woods who
ran in an earlier heat was eighth at 54.65. The slowest qualifying time was Eric
Nygard of Washington State at 53.29 while the fastest qualifier was Shane
Charles of Washington at 51.10.
WOMEN'S 200m-Antonette Carter followed a school record performance in the
100m with a seasonal best in the 200m. Only 50m into the turn Carter had taken
control of the race and was running away from the field coming out of the turn.
Shannan Hawes meanwhile ran in fourth coming off the turn only just behind
second and third. Hawes' time of 23.96 gave her a lifetime best while Carter ran
23.34. The fastest time that day was UCLA's Monique Henderson who ran 22.92, the
ninth fastest time in the world. Carter on her performance: "It was okay, it was
rough going back and forth between the 100m and the long jump, but I did get to
do the 100m while I was fresh so that was good." On her 200m: "It did feel like
I ran that fast though, so I'm hoping to run faster tomorrow. I'm shooting to
break 23.00, so if I beat her [Henderson] than so be it, but I'm ready for a
race and I know she'll be the one to give me one."
MEN'S 200m-After getting out fast senior Toby Atawo faded off the turn to
finish seventh in his heat with a time of 21.44. Atawo's lifetime best is 21.24
set this year at the Cal v Illinois duel meet.
Competition continues tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. with the finals in the women's
hammer and the conclusion of the track and field events.
