May 14, 2011

Men's Results | Women's Results| Big West Championship Central

IRVINE, Calif. - Titles from Ray Green in the triple jump and Thomas Phillips in the 400-meter hurdles helped lead the Aggie men to second place, while Chidinma Onyewuenyi captured the shot put to help pace the women to third, as both UC Davis teams were impressive at the Big West Track and Field Championships on Saturday at UC Irvine.

The UC Davis men scored 93 points on Saturday to roar from third place into a late lead before finishing a program-best tying second with 156 points. The women were third for the second straight year - also tying their best-ever Big West showing - after tallying 72 points on the meet's second day and finishing with 105 overall.

Long Beach State, which overtook UC Davis by scoring 27 points in the discus, won with 177.5 points. Cal Poly (131) was third, UC Santa Barbara (116.5) was fourth and defending champion Cal State Northridge (80) rounded out the top five.

Northridge defended its women's title by scoring 165.5 points for a comfortable win over second-place Cal Poly, which had 126. The Aggies finished ahead of Long Beach State (98.5) which was fourth and UC Riverside which capped the top five teams with 97 points.

The Aggie men's strong second day was bolstered by seven runner-up finishes, including two from senior Jonathan Sees in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter runs, while senior Ugo Eke was second in the 400 and sophomore Melanise Chapman matched that in the 100 to help spark the women's team.

Long Beach State led the third-place UC Davis men by 21 points after Friday but the Aggies battled back with 60 points on the track and 33 in the field to challenge down the stretch. In fact, they grabbed a 2-1/2 point lead over the 49ers after Sees' scored eight points in the 5,000 and Calvin Thigpen - who won the 10,000 on Friday - was sixth.

But the 49ers, with a strong contingent in the discus, finished in five of the eight scoring places for 27 points to retake the lead and win the championship. Still, it was a memorable meet for both Aggie teams which had their best-ever combined finish at the meet.

"It was our most successful conference performance our teams have had since our transition to Division I," said Byron Talley, Interim Director of Track and Field. "We didn't hand the men's title easily. Both teams competed very well."

Green won the long jump on Friday and was battling for the lead in Saturday's triple jump with Manny Neizer of Long Beach State who already had a mark of 49 feet, 2.25 inches going into the final round. Green, however, took the title by going 49-9 to score 10 points and add another individual title.

The Aggies' second individual track title on Saturday came from Phillips who edged standout teammate Alex Wilright to win the 400 hurdles. Phillips, who captured the open 400 last year and was the hurdles winner at the Cal-Nevada Championships this season, won in 51.11 seconds while Wilright was just behind in 51.54. Campbell finished eighth.

It was those types of performances that helped UC Davis score throughout its lineup on Saturday which also included career-best performances by Ethan Ostrom in the pole vault and Brock Bennett in the javelin that netted runner-up placings.

Ostrom, who earlier this season became just the third Aggie to ever clear the 17-foot mark, did so again on Saturday by going 17-1 and improving his No. 3 all-time position at UC Davis. Bennett went 205-00 in the javelin, bettering his previous best by a foot and solidifying his No. 5 all-time placing.

Four other runner-up finishes ignited the Aggies on the track including two from Sees and another from Karl Moran in the 400 (48.21). Sees opened his day by earning second in the 1,500 in 3:45.91 before battling Cal Poly's Brandon Shirck in the 5,000. Sees was timed in 14:42.54, less than a second behind Schirck.

Moran's time in the quarter debuted him at No. 8 on the program's all-time list. UC Davis' final second-place performance came from its 4x400 relay of Moran, Wilright, Green and Phillips which barely missed a school record with its time of 3:10.35.

Freshman Nathan Strum had a career-best time of 1:50.19 in the 800 for another top-three Aggie finish.

The women showed similar consistency throughout their lineup as they maintained the third-place position they held going into the day. Onyewuenyi provided their best finish, winning the shot put by seven inches. Her mark of 50-3.5 was the fourth time this year she's gone past the 50-foot plateau.

She wasted little time in setting the tone for the competition, unleashing the mark on her second attempt. UC Irvine's Alisa Misiata was second at 49-6.5.

Eke scored 14 points for the Aggies on Saturday, opening with eight points in the 400 with her time of 54.21 which only trails her school-record mark of 54.11. She then came back later in the meet to finish third in the 200 in 24.59, scoring six more points.

Chapman added eight points with her runner-up finish in the 100, crossing in 11.85, her second-fastest wind-legal time of the season. Chapman, who was fourth in the 200 as well, also ran the second leg on the the Aggies' third-place 4x100 relay (46.86) while both she and Eke were on the third-place 4x400 squad which had a season-best time of 3:43.38.

Alycia Cridebring scored six points in the 1,500 with her time of 4:29.08, Caitlin Fitzgerald added five more by finishing fifth in the 5,000 (16:54.80) and Hannah Royall was fifth in the hammer throw, tallying four points.

Senior Ofunne Okwudiafor had her best wind-legal effort of the spring in the triple jump, earning sixth at 38-1.25 while Shanie Landen (7th, 400), Lauren Wallace (7th, 800) and Suzanne Howard (8th, 400 hurdles) also added points by qualifying for Saturday's finals.

Kevin Griffith (5th, 800) added points for the men after qualifying for Saturday while Daniel Turvey (5th, pole vault) and Justin Kirkland (8th, javelin) contributed points as well.

After very successful performances at the Big West Championships, the Aggies will now turn their attention to the NCAA West Regional in two weeks at the University of Oregon. Fields for that meet will be announced next week.

BIG WEST TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Irvine, Calif. (hosted by UC Irvine)
Final Day
Winners and UC Davis results only

MEN
TEAM (Final) - 1. Long Beach State, 177.5; 2. UC DAVIS, 156; 3. Cal Poly, 131; 4. UC Santa Barbara, 116.5; 5. Cal State Northridge, 80; 6. UC Irvine, 79; 7. UC Riverside; 54; 8. Cal State Fullerton, 25.
100 - 1. Carl Horsley, Cal State Northridge, 10.55.
200 - 1. Carl Horsley, Cal State Northridge, 21.17.
400 - 1. Bryan Adams, UC Riverside, 47.42... 2. Karl Moran, 48.21.
800 - 1. Ryan Martin, UC Santa Barbara, 1:45.34... 3. Nathan Strum, 1:50.19; 5. Kevin Griffith, 1:50.95.
1500 - 1. Colin Hacker, UC Irvine, 3:44.44... 2. Jonathan Sees, 3:45.91.
5,000 - 1. Brandon Shirck, Cal Poly, 14:42.05... 2. Jonathan Sees, 14:42.54; 6. Calvin Thigpen, 14:44.70; 10. Russ Pfaff, 14:48.94; 13. Axel Stanovsky, 14:51.54.
110HH - 1. Michael Woodham, Cal State Northridge, 14.09... 8. Robert Neely, 15.12.
400H - 1. Thomas Phillips, UC Davis, 51.11... 2. Alex Wilright, 51.54; 8. Jeff Campbell, 53.72).
4x100 - 1. Cal State Northridge, 40.57... 8. UC Davis (Robert Neely, Gavin Banks, Hosea Tate, Matt Council), 41.88.
4x400 - 1. UC Irvine, 3:10.28... 2. UC Davis (Karl Moran, Alex Wilright, Ray Green, Thomas Phillips), 3:10.35.
TJ - 1. Ray Green, UC Davis, 15.16 (49-9.00)... 5. Igor Seriba, 14.42 (47-03.75, wa).
PV - 1. Tyler Wallace, Long Beach State, 5.50 (18-00.50)... 2. Ethan Ostrom, 5.21 (17-1); 5. Daniel Turvey, 4.81 (15-9.25); 11. Josh Sandler, 4.66 (15-3.5).
DT - 1. Colin Dunbar, Long Beach State, 53.27 (174-9)... 9. Eddie Orgon, 46.76 (153-05); Justin Kirkland, foul.
JT - 1. Benjamin Woodruff, Long Beach State, 62.62 (205-5)... 2. Brock Bennett, 62.48 (205-0); 8. Justin Kirkland, 53.76 (176-4).

WOMEN
TEAM (Final) - 1. Cal State Northridge, 165.5; 2. UC Santa Barbara, 126; 3. UC DAVIS 105; 4. Long Beach Staet, 98.5; 5. UC Riverside, 97; 6. Cal Poly, 88; 7. UC Irvine, 75; 8. Cal State Fullerton, 61,
100 - 1. Sherrina Lofton, Cal State Northridge, 11.65... 2. Melanise Chapman, 11.85.
200 - 1. Ciara Short, Cal State Fullerton, 23.42... 3. Ugo Eke, 24.59; 4. Melanise Chapman, 24.88.
400 - 1. Ciara Short, Cal State Fullerton, 52.31... 2. Ugo Eke, 54.21; 7. Shanie Landen, 56.44.
800 - 1. Justine Diaz, UC Santa Barbara, 2:10.30... 7. Lauren Wallace, 2:14.98.
1500 - 1. Vanessa Hancock, Cal Poly, 4:27.73... 3. Alycia Cridebring, 4:29.08.
5,000 - 1. Amanda Morena, UC Santa Barbara, 16:44.21... 4. Caitlin Fitzgerald, 16:54.80; 9. Krista Drechsler, 17:09.53.
100H - 1. Lauren Williams, Cal State Fullerton, 13.51.
400H - 1. Ericka Nowell, UC Irvine, 58.82... 8. Suzanne Howard, 1:04.03.
4x100 - 1. Cal State Fullerton, 45.88... 3. UC Davis (Kellie Grigg, Melanise Chapman, Leslie Reed, Mina Mohamadi), 46.86.
4x400 - 1. Cal State Northridge, 3:41.41... 3. UC Davis (Alana Babers, Melanise Chapman, Shanie Landen, Ugo Eke), 3:43.38.
TJ - 1. Allison Wilder, UC Riverside, 13.11 (43-0.25)... 6. Ofunne Okwudiafor, 11.61 (38-1.25).
HJ - 1. Desirae Gonder, Cal State Northridge, 1.78 (5-10).
SP - 1. Chidinma Onyewuenyi, UC Davis, 15.33 (50-3.5)... 17. Hannah Royall, 11.31 (37-1.25).
HT - 1. Megan McFarland, UC Riverside, 55.56 (182-3)... 5. Hannah Royall, 50.44 (165-6); Chidinma Onyewuenyi, foul.