Cal State Northridge Men and Women in Lead After Day One of Big West Track & Field Championships

Links associated with this release:
2009 Big West Track & Field Championships Results

Shelese Ruffin lead the Matadors to a sweep of the long jump and an overall meet lead after Day 1.

UC Riverside's Brenda Martinez only ran the 15th-fastest time in the world this year (2:03.05) to advance to Saturday's 800m final.

Cal State Fullerton's Julianne Masciana set a meet record with a time of 10:23.36 in the steeplechase.

Day one of the 2009 Big West Track & Field Championships is in the books and the Cal State Northridge men and women have the lead going into the final day of competition. The meet is being held at Anteater Stadium on the campus of UC Irvine.

The Matador men are in the pole position with 61.5 points, 7.5 ahead of second place Cal Poly. UC Davis checks in the third position with 35.5 tallies, while Long Beach State has amassed 30 points for fourth place. Fifth place belongs to Cal State Fullerton with 28 points, with UC Santa Barbara (25), UC Irvine (21.5) and UC Riverside (17.5) wrapping up the men's standings.

The women's standings have CSUN with 76 points, while Cal Poly (43.5) and UC Davis (37.5) complete the top three. Cal State Fullerton is in fourth with 35 points, with UC Santa Barbara right behind the Titans with 27 tallies. Long Beach State (26.5), UC Irvine (15.5) and UC Riverside (12) complete the women's scoring.

The field events kicked off the day’s competition with the men’s hammer. Matt Lahti of the host Anteaters came away with the first 10 points for the home team as he put up a winning effort of 59.24 meters (194-04).

The next completed event was the women's javelin, which saw Cal Poly claim two of the three positions on the award stand. Katie Robbins was the winner with an effort of 44.55 meters (146-02), while her teammate Nicki Lopes was third with a personal-best mark of 43.13 meters (141-06).

Next up on the award stand was the women's pole vault. Cal Poly recorded another first place finish thanks to Jenna Homes who tallied a mark of 3.85 meters (12-7.50), a new meet record.

The men's long jump was the next event to finish up and it was a fine event for Cal State Northridge. The Matadors claimed the first and third positions as Rolando Felizola (7.47m/24-6.25) was the overall winner and Robert Robinson (7.33m/24-0.75) claimed the third position.

UC Santa Barbara had the next turn on top of the podium as Scott Anderson picked up first place honors in the shot put after an impressive effort of 18.09 meters (59-4.25). Following the shot on the podium was a 1-2 finish by Cal State Fullerton in the high jump. Laron Brown and Jonathan Golden both cleared 2.10 meters (6-10.75), but Brown claimed the top honor thanks to clearing the height before any other competitors.

The women's long jump winners had their chance in the spotlight next and Cal State Northridge stole the show with a 1-2-3 finish. Shelese Ruffin led the contingent with an effort of 5.98 meters (19-7.50), Stella Dugall was second after posting a 5.92 meters (19-5.25) and Candyce Babb completed the sweep with a mark of 5.91 meters (19-4.75).

The final field event of the day was the women's discus throw and Cal Poly picked up another first place finish. Julie Dufresne gave the Mustangs the 10 points after tossing the apparatus 49.14 meters (161-03).

The first scored track event was next as the steeplechase took center stage. The men's race saw UC Davis' Russ Pfaff put up an impressive performance as he completed the event in 9:00.59, four seconds faster than the second place finisher. The women’s edition had an impressive winner as well as Julianne Masciana of Cal State Fullerton set a meet record with a time of 10:23.36.

All-American Brenda Martinez of UC Riverside thrilled the crowd in a prelim of the 800 as she torched the track in a meet record 2:03.05. The time is the 15th-fastest mark in the world and set a Big West championship record.

Wrapping up the day was the 10,000-meter run, a grueling test of endurance. With the lights on and fireworks in the background of the men’s race, Ulices Pina of UC Riverside used a big kick in the final 100 meters to win the race in 30:31.27. Pina's win was even sweeter considering that he finished in last place in the 2008 edition of the championship race. In the women's 10K run, Cal State Northridge's Lilyanna Morejon claimed first place honors after finishing the race in a solid 35:00.32, just .32 seconds away from a regional qualifying mark.