The second and final day of the NCAA West Regional Championships ended with multiple Big West athletes earning spots in the NCAA Championships. The championships were being held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.
UC Santa Barbara led the scoring among Big West clubs on the women’s side as the Gauchos finished the regional with 22 points, good for 11th place overall. Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State finished in a tie for 13th place with 18 points, while Cal Poly finished in a tie for 17th with 10 points. Cal State Fullerton wrapped up the Big West scoring with a single tally for 28th place.
Long Beach State was the high Big West scorer on the men’s side with 27 points, putting the 49ers in 10th overall. Cal State Northridge gave the conference another 20-point scorer as the Matadors finished in 13th place with 25 points. Cal Poly came in 17th place with 16 points, while UC Santa Barbara was right behind the Mustangs in 18th with 12 points. Cal State Fullerton (20th-8.5) and UC Irvine (21st-7) wrapped up the Big West scores on the men’s side.
Phillip Reid and Aris Borjas gave Cal Poly points on the men’s side as well as secured invites to the NCAA Championships in their events. Reid qualified for NCAAs after finished fourth in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:46.27, just over two seconds behind the winner. Borjas enters the NCAA Champions as the regional champion as the senior had a gargantuan toss of 72.06 meters in the javelin, nearly six meters ahead of the runner-up. Evan Anderson picked up one more point for Cal Poly with an eighth place finish in the 1,500-meter run at 3:47.84.
Cal State Fullerton’s men’s 4x100-meter relay dquad gave the Titans their first points of the day as the four-man squad finished fifth with a time of 40.59. Marques Barosso gave CSF a point with an eighth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.58, while Chris Epstein was sixth in the 400-meter dash at 47.67. Laron Brown wrapped up the scoring for the Titans men’s squad with a tie for eighth in the high jump with a mark of 2.11 meters. The women’s 4x400-meter relay contingent picked up a point after finishing eighth with a time of 3:43.46.
Cal State Northridge had a stellar day on both sides of the final day of competition. In the men’s competition, Thomas Ross and Anthony Brown picked up points in the 110-meter hurdles as Ross finished second at 13.78, while Brown was seventh with a time of 14.27. The CSUN men were also dual scorers in the triple jump as Dashalle Andrews was third (15.67 meter), while Rolando Felizola was eighth (15.13 meters). On the women’s side, Deanna Goodwin moved onto the NCAA Championships in the 400-meter dash with her winning time of 53.56. Goodwin also added an eighth place finish in the 200-meter (25.03). The Matador 4x100-meter relay squad also qualified for NCAAs after finishing third with a time of 45.12.
Brent Gray was the star of the show for Long Beach State’s men’s squad as the junior won the 200-meter dash (20.74) and was second in the 100-meter (10.40) to qualify for the NCAA Championships in both events. Tyson Gray was the second LBSU men’s athlete to qualify for NCAAs as he finished third in the javelin with a toss of 66.45 meters. On the women’s side, the 49er 4x100-meter relay contingent qualified for NCAAs after coming through with a second place performance in a school-record 44.86.
UC Irvine grabbed an invitation to the NCAA Championships Saturday as Julian Eison finished fifth in the high jump after recording a mark of 2.11 meters. Rickey Barnes also gave the Anteaters men’s squad points as he finished sixth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:46.71.
UC Santa Barbara’s John Delaney claimed a berth into the NCAA Championships with his fifth place finish in the javelin at 64.09 meters. Narrowly missing a berth was teammate Kyle Baker who finished the event with a mark of 61.43. Mike Chavez recorded a 3:47.39 in the 1,500-meter run for a seventh place finish and two points for the Gaucho men. The UCSB women also grabbed a couple NCAA bids as Bethany Nickless finished second in the steeplechase (10:11.03), while Amy Haapanen finished fifth in the hammer (63.49 meters).
The 2007 NCAA Championships will be held June 6-9 at Hornet Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University in Sacramento, Calif. Further selection information will be available Tuesday, May 29 at 12 p.m. Pacific on ncaasports.com.