March 28, 2008

Friday's Complete Results

FRESNO, Calif. - UC Davis men posted 15 qualifying marks for Saturday's finals at the Cal-Nevada Track and Field Championships at Fresno State and hold the first-day team lead after one event, while the Aggie women had 11 qualifying marks and are in second place.

The only final held on Friday was in the 5,000-meter run. UC Davis' Ben DeLand finished third in 15 minutes, 4.71 seconds for seven points while Thomas Dileo was fifth in 15:17.26 for five more as UC Davis scored 12 points to lead Cal State San Marcos by two points and host Fresno State by four.

The Aggies' Kaitlin Gregg had an impressive performance in the women's 5,000, finshing second in 17:17.40 and scoring eight points for UC Davis. Morgan Sjogren of Cal State San Marcos won the race in 17:10.67, delivering CSUSM the team lead after the first event.

All remaining event finals will be held on Saturday and UC Davis set itself up in both the men's and women's competitions with several strong qualifying performances on Friday. Jade Myles and Chidinma Onyewuenyi each qualified for two individual events while freshman Ray Green was a double-qualifier for the men.

Myles, the school-record holder in the triple jump, moved on in that event after going 11.80 meters (38-08.75) for a tie for fifth in that event's prelims while also qualifying in the long jump after jumping 5.50 meters (18-00.50). Onyewuenyi moved through in the shot put (12.81, 42-00.50) and the hammer throw (48.40, 158-09).

Green advanced to the finals in his two events - the long jump and triple jump - for the Aggie men, qualifying at 6.94 meters (22-09.25) in the former and 14.53 meters (47-8.00) in the latter. His mark in the triple jump was the second-best of the day at the championship meet.

On the men's side, Polly Gnepa posted the fastest time on Friday in the 110 high hurdles with his mark of 14.16, a career-best mark by .01 that also keeps him at No. 3 all-time at UC Davis. Matt Swarbrick, who is No. 3 all-time in the discus, had the meet's third-best mark on Friday when he went 54.93 meters (180-2), just four inches off his personal-best.

Other qualifiers for the UC Davis men are Micah Grant (100, 10.86), Ben Johnson (800, 1:54.37), Jonathan Peterson (1,500, 3:56.12), Russ Pfaff (1,500, 4:01.30), Thomas Phillips (400H, 53.96), Jah Bennett (high jump, 2.00m), Josh Sandler (pole vault, 4.45m), Sejoon Park (pole vault, 4.45m), Jared Yuen (triple jump, 13.73m), Jake Fuller (discus, 49.72m) and Lance Walkington (javelin, 52.20m).

Moving on for the Aggie women are Ugo Eke (400, 55.90), Jenna Gailey (800, 2:14.94), Lorin Scott (1,500, 4:40.94), Brianna Larson (1,500, 4:43.74), Stephanie Eckels (triple jump, 11.14m), Brittany Bickel (javelin, 35.42m) and Sirena Williams (100H). Williams mark of 14.41 in the hurdles was the second-fastest of the afternoon and went into a slight headwind.

Competition on Saturday begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday while the running event finals start at 2:15 p.m.