May 29, 2009
Official Meet Site (schedule, entries, live results, etc.)
EUGENE, Ore. - UC Davis junior Sirena Williams qualified for Saturday's 100-meter hurdle finals in school-record time while Polly Gnepa, Jazz Trice and Alex Wilright advanced in hurdles events for the Aggie men during the first day of the NCAA Division I West Region Championships at the University of Oregon on Friday.
Gnepa and Trice qualified in the 110 high hurdles while Wilright moved on in the 400 hurdles. The quartet led 11 Aggie competitors in action on Friday, six of them racing in prelims and the remainder in finals either on the track or in the field.
Williams lowered her school record in the hurdles for the sixth time this season but did so by her largest margin. She entered the meet with a personal-best 13.70 seconds, set at the Big West Conference Championships two weeks ago, but dropped it by another two-tenths, placing sixth overall in 13.50.
"She made a big step today," said women's coach Deanne Vochatzer. "She's got to come back and do it again tomorrow."
Williams advanced to the eight-competitor final on Saturday which will be contested at 2:15 p.m. The top five finishers in each of the individual events will advance to the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on June 10-14.
Gnepa and Trice will also try to move on to the national finals when they race in the high hurdles finals at 4:15 p.m. Gnepa finished second in his heat - third overall - in a career-best time of 13.69 seconds, a mark that would've established a school record had it not come with a wind of +2.3 meters/second. His previous best time was 13.99 seconds.
"Polly was in the zone," said Vochatzer. "Polly ran probably the cleanest race of all the hurdlers. He got out and was shoulder-to-shoulder from the get-go."
Trice, the school-record holder in the event at 13.85 seconds, officially lowered the record to 13.73 after finishing second in his heat which came with an allowable wind of 1.6 mps. He finished fifth overall, giving UC Davis two of the eight spots in Saturday's final. Trice has a wind-aided 13.65 seconds to his credit this year.
Wilright was the other UC Davis hurdler to advance out of the prelims on Friday, easily winning his heat by more than a half-second at 50.95. His time ranked third overall among the field and was the third-fastest of his career. Wilright will race in Saturday's final at 2:25 p.m.
Two other Aggies were not able to advance in their track events. Thomas Phillips was 11th overall in the 400 hurdles in 52.21 while Ugo Eke had a time of 55.25 in the women's 400, both of them ending standout seasons that featured school records in the open 400 meters at the Big West Championships.
Seniors Kim Conley and Lorin Scott competed in the 5,000 with Scott taking 13th in the high-caliber field. Conley, Vochatzer said, was stepped on early in the race and ran with a shoe partially off before having to later discard it. Recovering from injury, Conley was unable to complete the race bringing to a close her magnificent career which includes a UC Davis record in the 5,000.
UC Davis was well-represented in the field events with high-jumper Ben Nelson and hammer-thrower Chidinma Onyewuenyi just missing on berths to the national championship. Nelson was sixth in his event at 6 feet 10.25 inches, losing out of a top-five finish on a tiebreaker. He still has a chance, however, to advance to the national meet when at-large berths are announced early next week.
Onyewuenyi came within three feet of her school record in the hammer, finishing ninth at 184-01, less than five feet from a top-five finish in the event. She'll continue her regional action, though, on Saturday when she competes in the shot put.
Ashley Hearn, who earned the team's first regional mark of the season when she qualified in the discus during the opener at Cal in March, did not advance during Friday's competition.
Vochatzer said it was exciting to hear UC Davis' name throughout the first day of the meet. After qualifying eight athletes last year, the Aggies brought a contingent of 14 to this year's regional championship.
"It's nice to hear 'UC Davis' here and 'UC Davis' there," she said of the environment at the enthusiastic track site.
Host Oregon leads the points total on both the men's and women's sides.
Wilright's 400 hurdles final will be contested at 3:20 p.m. He'll be one of eight Aggies in action on Saturday, joining the three other hurdlers, pole-vaulters Ethan Ostrom and Jamie Feaster, steeplechaser Russell Pfaff and Onyewuenyi.
NCAA DIVISION I WEST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS
Eugene, Ore. (Univ. of Oregon)
Day 1 of 2
UC Davis results only
MEN
110HH - 1. Oscar Spurlock, USC, 13.60... 3. Polly Gnepa, 13.69 (wa), 2. Jazz Trice, 13.73.
400H - 1. Amaechi Morton, Stanford, 50.37... 3. Alex Wilright, 50.95; 11. Thomas Phillips, 52.21.
HJ - 1. Manjula Wijesekara, USC, 2.25 (7-04.50)... 6. Ben Nelson, 2.09 (6-10.25).
WOMEN
400 - 1. Brook Turner, Cal, 53.34... 14. Ugo Eke, 55.25.
5,000 (final) - 1. Nicole Blood, Oregon, 16:19.14... 13. Lorin Scott, 17:03.65; Kim Conley, DNF.
100H - 1. Lauren Williams, Cal St. Fullerton, 13.22... 6. Sirena Williams, 13.50.
HT (final) - 1. Eva Orban, USC, 67.18 (220-5)... 9. Chidinma Onyewuenyi, 56.12 (184-01).
DT (final) - 1. Sarah Stevens, Arizona State, 55.02 (180-06)... Ashley Hearn, foul.
