May 9, 2005
Results
Los Angeles, CA -
All-American senior Brooke Meredith came in third place at the 2005
Pac-10 Multi-Event championships. Her score of 5,446 fell just short of her
lifetime best of 5,511 set last year at the Cal Multi-Event, but beat her
seasonal best of 5,401 set at this year's Mt. SAC Relays. Meredith stood in
fourth place going into the second day of competition behind the Pickler sisters
of Washington State and Lauryn Jordon of Oregon. After a first day PR of 3,239
points on the heels of lifetime bests in the shot put and 100mH, Meredith would
be able to use her strong second day to improve her final position. Meredith's
performance in the long jump of 17-9.75 only gave her 680 points allowing Jordon
and the Picklers to widen their lead. Meredith owns a lifetime best of 19-4.75
that would have won the long jump outright. That mark was set last year at the
NCAA Indoor championships. Meredith made up much of the deficit in the javelin
with a throw of 137-6 for 704 points, the mark was second only to a monster toss
by Oregon's Roslyn Lundeen of 159-00. The throw brought Meredith within 26
points of Jordon. Meredith saved a terrific effort for the 800m where she ran a
PR of 2:20.05 for 823 points to overtake Jordon by 147 points for third place.
Jordon came in at 2:33.51. Meredith's time was the fourth fastest overall. Diana
Pickler stood in the lead until the 800m, when sister Julie ran 2:19.73 over
Diana's 2:24.31 to jump into the lead and win the event by 6 points with a final
high score of 5,569 points. Meredith's score of 5,446 is the ninth best score in
the country by a collegian this year.
Junior Jonas Hallgrimsson managed a feat similar to Meredith's by
jumping from fourth to third in the second day of competition. His final score
of 7,002 points took third place from Cody Fleming of Oregon in the last event,
the 1,500m. Hallgrimsson's terrific throw of 202-1 in the ninth event, the
javelin, made him the only thrower over 200-0 and allowed him to make up a
frightening amount of ground on Fleming who only threw 184-8. At the close of
the javelin Arizona's Robert Arnold had fallen into fifth from second place
after fouling out in the discus while Hallgrimsson trailed Fleming by only six
points. Meanwhile Oregon's Andy Young had catapulted into second on the strength
of a 16-2.75 effort in the pole vault. When the dust settled at the end of the
1,500m, Hallgrimsson had the second fastest 1,500m time of 4:39.61 behind only
Young's 4:28.22. The time gave Hallgrimsson 683 points over the 655 points that
Fleming earned for running 4:44.12 as Hallgrimsson handed Fleming fourth place
for third.
The points from Meredith's finish puts the Cal women in second place, while
Hallgrimsson gives the men third place.
Competition at the 2005 Pac-10 championships will conclude this Saturday and
Sunday at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.
