May 30, 2008
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. - The San Diego State track and field team completed first day action at the NCAA West Regional Championships on Friday at Matador Track and Field Complex on the campus of Cal State Northridge. Sophomore Stephanie Bagan won the pole vault with one the best performances in school history and as a team, SDSU advanced five athletes to Saturday's finals. In the overall team standings, the Aztecs are in a tie for sixth place with 10 points.
The pole vault started things off for the Aztecs at approximately 1:30 p.m. PT and nearly four hours later, Bagan was crowned the NCAA West Regional champion after a record-setting effort. The 2008 Mountain West Conference indoor and outdoor champ cleared 14 feet, 3.50 inches to automatically advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. Bagan and California's Katie Morgan were the only two athletes remaining in the field of 34 and both missed their first attempt at 14-3.50. Bagan, however, cleared the bar on her second vault while Morgan was unsuccessful on her next two tries. Bagan then raised the bar to 14-8.00, an Olympic and World A standard, but missed on all three attempts. All in all, Bagan ended the afternoon as the first regional champion in school history, the top pole vaulter in NCAA Division I going into the Championships, broke Shayla Balentine's school and MWC record of 14-1.25 set in 2005 and established the new Matador Track and Field Complex standard of excellence. Bagan will be the first Aztec to make an appearance at nationals since Erin Asay was a part of the field in 2006.
SDSU also had seniors Monica Pacas and Christin Shibley and sophomore Dana Jensen compete in the pole vault and all three had first-attempt clearances of 12-0.00 to finish in a tie for 21st place.
In the first completed event of the day for San Diego State, freshman Briana Johnson finished in third place in Heat 1 with a time of 13.80 in the 100-meter hurdles. Her preliminary round effort was her second-fastest of the season and her best non-wind-aided time of 2008. Overall, Johnson's 13.80 ranked seventh among the field to qualify her for Saturday's finals.
About 40 minutes after the 100 hurdles, the 100-meter dash preliminaries took place with junior Shana Solomon and senior Alicia Lowery set to run in Heat 2. With Solomon in Lane 2 and Lowery in Lane 5, Solomon finished in fourth with a time of 11.72, while Lowery clocked in at 11.91 to place sixth. Both times, unfortunately, were not good enough to advance the duo to the finals. Solomon just missed qualifying for the final round by .02 seconds.
Senior Sherraine Pencil, who occupied the inside lane for the 400, easily won Heat 2 with a time of 54.23 to earn one of three automatic bids to Saturday's final. Her time was second overall, while freshman Kyanna Thomas came in fourth (56.03) in Heat 3 and 13th overall to fall short of qualifying for the finals.
As the lone competitor in the 800, senior Mandy Upuu will be making her second consecutive trip to the finals after running a season-best 2:07.90. Upuu finished in fourth in Heat 1 and just squeezed into the championship field following the running of the three heats with the eighth-best time.
Junior Kristin Olafsdottir put forth a solid effort in her heat of the 400 hurdles as she took the lead late with two hurdles left, but crossed the finish line in second with a time of 1:00.61. However when the dust settled, Olafsdottir found herself on the outside looking in falling just .10 second shy of making the finals field of eight.
In the championship round of the long jump, junior Shana Watson leaped 18-5.00 to finish in 14th place and classmate Decontee Kaye came in 16th with a jump of 17-6.75.
The 200 was the final preliminary race of the day for the Aztecs and both SDSU athletes made it through to championship heat. Pencil wound up with the fifth-fastest effort among the field at 24.02 and Solomon secured her spot in the finals with an eight-place overall clocking of 24.26.
The final day of the regional meet commences for San Diego State tomorrow at 3 p.m. with the finals of the triple jump.
NCAA West Regional Championships
Matador Track and Field Complex (Northridge, Calif.)
Team Standings (5 events scored - top 5 and SDSU only)
1. Arizona State - 50 points
2. Stanford - 33
3. UCLA - 23.50
4. USC - 15
5. Oregon - 14
t6. San Diego State - 10
t6. Washington State - 10