March 15, 2008

Complete Results in PDF Format

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Kim Conley qualified for the NCAA Track and Field West Region Championships in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 24.30 seconds, while Matthew Swarbrick improved his qualifying mark in the discus at 180 feet, 6 inches, as the UC Davis men and women swept duals at UC Santa Barbara on a windy Saturday afternoon.

Behind wins in the 1,500 and 800 by Conley, and two individual wins from Ugo Eke in the 200 and 400, the Aggie women posted a 101-85 win over the Gauchos. Freshman Ray Green won the long jump and triple jump to help the men score a 103-85 victory over UCSB.

The women captured first place in 13 of 18 events and had five marks alter the program's all-time list while the men scored victories in 12 event and had two marks affect the career leaders' lists.

Conley, who narrowly missed a regional mark last week in the 5,000, qualified in the 1,500 on Saturday with her 4:24.30, a personal-best time by more than six seconds. It also moved her up a spot to No. 4 all-time at UC Davis. She also had a big PR in the 800, moving onto that list for the first time at No. 7 with her winning time of 2:10.84. Conley led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the Aggies in the 1,500 while UC Davis grabbed the top three spots in the 800.

Eke also enjoyed two individual event wins, taking first in the 200 in 24.50 and then capturing the 400 in 55.70, debuting her at No. 5 all-time in that event. Eke also ran on the victorious 4x100 relay along with Nicole Theus, Stephanie Eckels and Willa Porter.

Tessa Fraser continued her strong outdoor season in the pole vault, posting a PR on Saturday by going 3.80 meters (12-05.50). It surpassed her previous best by nearly a half-foot and moved her past Kaley Kitto (1999) into the No. 3 position on the all-time list.

Other wins for the Aggie women on Saturday came from Theus in the 100 (12.01), Lorin Scott in the 100 (12.01), Chidinma Onyewuenyi in the hammer throw (45.55, 149-05), Brittany Bickel in the javelin (35.98, 118-0), Ashley Hearn in the discus (42.81, 140-05) and Stephanie Eckels in the triple jump (11.80, 38-08.75).

Besides the 4x100, UC Davis also won the 4x400 with Porter joined by Eloyscia Ratliff, Alana Babers and Kiara Reed.

Natalie Russell, who finished second in the 400 hurdles in 1:02.86, is now No. 10 all-time for that event at UC Davis.

Swarbrick had earlier posted a regional mark in the discus when he went 53.66 meters (176-0) ast the All-Cal Challenge in early March. He improved that mark on Saturday with his winning effort of 55.02 meters (180-6). That also pushed him to No. 3 on the Aggies' all-time list, less than a foot behind Tom Pipes who went 181-02 for the No. 2 mark in 1973.

Green has won the triple jump in each of his first three Aggie meets, doing so again against the Gauchos with his mark of 6.66 meters (21-10.25). He was the lone double-event winner in the individual events for the Aggie men who also picked up victories on the track from Micah Grant in the 100 (10.89), Josh Fuchs in the 200 (21.93), Russell Pfaff in the 1,500 (3:55.31), Polly Gnepa in the 110 high hurdles (14.16) and Thomas Phillips in the 400 hurdles (53.69).

Additionally, Fuchs, Jazz Trice, Gnepa and Nolan Frazier combined to win the 4x100 (42.15) while Grant, Andre Huff, Gnepa and Phillips made up the victorious 4x400 relay (3:18.41).

Besides Green's and Swarbrick's wins, UC Davis had two other first-place finishes in the field events. Lance Walkington won the javelin for the second consecutive week, taking first at Santa Barbara at 53.58 meters 175-9) while Jah Bennett made it three straight wins in the high jump, winning with an effort of 2.00 meters (6-6.75).

Jonathon Peterson made his mark on the 5,000's all-time list with his second-place time of 14:30.63 that put him in the No. 10 position.

Wind readings were not available but were expected to make all affected events wind-aided due to competition conditions.

UC Davis will take a break for final exams before returning to competition with the Cal-Nevada State Championships at Fresno State on Mar. 28-29.