April 5, 2014

Stanford Inv. Results | SFSU Results

STANFORD, Calif. - The UC Davis women's track and field team's 4x100-meter relay finished fifth at the Stanford Invitational in a season-best time of 45.27 seconds, while Nathan Strum turned in a strong showing in the 800 to lead the men, as the Aggies completed competition in the Bay Area on Saturday.

Ashley Marshall finished fourth in the 200 and Catherine Li took eighth in the triple jump for the women, while Karl Moran was sixth in the 110 high hurdles finals, Basil Okoroike finished third in the triple jump and Brandon Greenberg was sixth in the invitational shot put to help lead the men.

The Aggies also had a contingent of athletes at the nearby San Francisco State Distance Carnival. Kellie Grigg, who competed in the 400 hurdles at Stanford on Friday, came back to finish fourth in the open 400 at SFSU. Morgan Dutra was fifth in the women's discus while Jelani Legohn placed fifth in the men's 400 hurdles.

"The weekend of the Stanford invitational and San Francisco State Distance Carnival is always a busy one for our program," said head coach Drew Wartenburg. "This year, we made more concerted efforts than ever to put as many people in uniform as possible. As the first true big invitational weekend, these two meets present many opportunities to begin getting good marks against high levels of competition."

The women's 4x100 relay picked up one of those good marks with its time of 45.27 on Saturday. Ashley Marshall led off before handing the baton to Cekarri Nixon. Leslie Reed, who also had a career-best mark in the 200 (24.47) on Saturday that puts her No. 5 all-time at UC Davis, and freshman Holly Miller brought it home the rest of the way.

Their time easily beat the 45.70 that same quartet had at the Aggie Open on Mar. 15, although the individual relay legs were different. It improves their No. 3 all-time standing and will give them a stronger position in the all-important NCAA West rankings.

Marshall won the 100-meter dash during Friday's competition and came back on Saturday to take fourth in the 200 in a wind-aided time of 24.06. Cekarri Nixon was 13th (24.44) while Reed was 14th. Shanie Landen turned in a season-best mark in the 800 (2:08.55).

Li's eighth-place mark of 37 feet, 5.25 inches came on her first attempt.

Strum tied for ninth in a field of 83 competitors in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 1:50.26. Strum tied with Thomas Bojanowski of Wake Forest with their times taken down to a thousandth of a second (1:50.256) not even able to separate them. His time was barely off his career-best of 1:50.19 from the 2011 Big West Championships that put him third all-time at UC Davis.

Moran, who won his prelim 110HH heat on Friday in 14.64 seconds that was eighth-best overall, improved on that time a day later with his sixth-place finish in the final in 14.56. It nearly beat his PR of 14.52 set during the season-opener meet at Cal in early March.

Okoroike was third in the triple jump with a mark of 48-0.50, the Aggies' best mark in 2014. Greenberg was sixth in the shot put's invitational section at 55-3.75 while teammate Ben Parodi placed fourth in the collegiate section (51-9.25). Marcus Johnson was 11th of 44 sprinters in the 200 in 21.88.

At San Francisco State, Grigg was a clear winner in her section of the 400, crossing in 57.69 seconds. That placed her fourth overall. Dutra (137-08) had a season-best mark in the discus while Legohn (55.66) did the same in the 400 hurdles.

"In some areas we performed well-at or above expectations while in others we exhibited some loose ends that need to be addressed before we return to the track and to the field next weekend," Wartenburg said. "For athletes that competed back-to-back days, this weekend was the first simulation of a multi-day format, something we will need to have mastered come season's end.

"The coaching staff feels good about some regional qualifying marks that were obtained this weekend, and we look forward to putting a large squad back in action in Tempe next weekend," he added.

UC Davis returns to action at the ASU Sun Angel Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., next Friday and Saturday. The Aggies will also send athletes to the Mondo Mid-Major at Sacramento State.

STANFORD INVITATIONAL
Stanford, Calif.
UC Davis results
Day 2 of 2

WOMEN
200 - 1. Michelle Brown, Notre Dame, 23.75.... 4. Ashley Marshall, 24.06 (wa); 13. Cekarri Nixon, 24.44; 14. Leslie Reed, 24.47.
800 - 1. Maggie Vessey, unattached, 2:03.58... 17. Shanie Landen, 2:08.55; 31. Raquel Lambdin, 2:10.79.
4x100 - 1. Texas A&M, 43.69... 5. UC Davis, 45.27.
TJ - 1. Cydney Leath, CS Northridge, 12.27 (40-03.25)... 8. Catherine Li, 11.41 (37-05.25).
HT - 1. Brea Garrett, Texas A&M, 58.68 (192-06)... 12. Veronica Smart, 48.87 (160-04), 13. Sarah Hussey, 48.47 (159-00); 18. Michaela Mundt, 44.83 (147-01).

MEN
200 - 1. Kemarley Brown, Merritt, 20.77... 11. Marcus Johnson, 21.88; 35. Kaio Sena, 22.45.
800 - 1. Chris Low, Long Beach St., 1:48.30... T9. Nathan Strum, 1:50.26; 58. Trevor Ehlenbach, 1:54.47; Alex Grigoriev, DNF.
110HH - 1. Wayne Davis II, Texas A&M, 13.50... 6. Karl Moran, 14.56.
4x100 - 1. Texas A&M, 40.30... 7. UC Davis, 41.60.
4x400 - 1. Texas A&M, 3:07.02... 12. UC Davis, 3:17.51.
TJ - 1. Darius Armstead, Fresno, 14.84 (48-08.25).... 3. Basil Okoroike, 14.64 (48-00.50); 7. Chase Dariso, 13.99 (45-10.75).
SP (invitational) - 1. Stephen Mozia, Cornell, 19.46 (63-10.25)... 6. Brandon Greenberg, 16.86 (55-03.75).
SP - 1. Jack Scheideman, Washington, 16.21 (53-02.25)... 4. Ben Parodi, 15.78 (51-09.25).

SAN FRANCISCO STATE DISTANCE CARNIVAL
San Francisco, Calif.
UC Davis results
Day 2 of 2

WOMEN
200 - 1. Ashley Satterwhite, Hawaii, 25.10... 17. Dana Conlin, 26.41; 29. Amanda Babicke, 27.15.
400 - 1. Anna Lee McGregor, 56.22... 4. Kellie Grigg, 57.69.
100H - 1. Samantha Esperanza, Hawaii, 14.58... 14. Murphy Nicholson, 16.05 (wa).
DT - 1. Charlinda Ioane, Hawaii, 45.44 (149-01)... 5. Morgan Dutra, 41.96 (137-08).
SP - 1. Charlina Ioane, Hawaii, 13.90 (45-07.25)... 22. Morgan Dutra, 9.56 (31-04.50).

MEN
100 - 1. Jamie Ashcroft, Alaska Anchorage, 11.74... 12. Dana Conlin, 12.54 (wa); 22. Amanda Babicke, 13.15 (wa).
200 - 1. Tyrell Williams, Western Oregon, 21.59... 16. Hosea Tate, 22.92 (wa).
400 - 1. Ethan Hewitt, Alaska Anchorage, 48.00... 23. Hosea Tate, 51.53.
400H - 1. Bobo Camara, Alaska Anchorage, 53.65... 5. Jelani Legohn, 55.66.
DT - 1. Kevin Rima, NW Nazarene, 51.28 (168-03)... 16. Abhineet Ram, 36.26 (118-11).