May 29, 2009
EUGENE, Ore. - San Diego State senior Karoline Koehler earned a berth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as a result of her second-place finish in the long jump on Friday at the NCAA West Regional Championships at historic Hayward Field. With her effort, SDSU finds itself in ninth place with eight team points entering Saturday.
Koehler, the 2009 Mountain West Conference indoor and outdoor long jump champion, finished with a personal-record leap that covered 21 feet, 9.50 inches. Her performance broke her own school record, which was set earlier this season at the Sea Ray Relays, by 5.50 inches.
Koehler also ran in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash and finished second in her heat and third overall with a lifetime-best mark of 11.43. Her personal-record time moves her up three spots on SDSU's all-time outdoor performance list to No. 2. Koehler goes into Saturday's championship heat just .03 seconds behind No. 1 seed Charonda Williams of Arizona State.
Fellow sprinter Nicole Stone enjoyed a strong performance that saw her qualify for the 400-meter dash finals. The junior co-team captain logged a time of 54.19 to secure one of eight Saturday bids.
Meanwhile in the 4x100 relay, Koehler and Stone teamed with Alicia King and Jessika Hornsby to produce the field's fifth-best time of 44.74. The quartet's season-best effort was strong enough to get them into the finals, which begins at 1:30 p.m. PT on Saturday.
In the prelims of 100-meter hurdles, Annimari Korte and Briana Johnson hit the track with intentions of advancing to the finals. The duo's aspirations came up a bit short, but Korte finished her first season at SDSU on a strong note with a personal-record time of 13.67. Johnson, on the other hand, hit a hurdle and finished the race in an admirable 13.79.
For the first time in school history, San Diego State took more than one thrower to the regional meet and had two compete in the discus throw in the late afternoon. Leanne Taylor, who was making her second appearance at the meet, finished in 12th place with a toss of 156-10, while Jeannette McConnell completed her first regional performance with a mark of 147-11.
Another first-time regional qualifier, Rachel Williams, took her lane on Friday evening and raced in the 5,000-meter run. The junior finished in 17:47.03 and became the first Aztec since to 2006 to compete in a distance event at regionals.
Final day action gets underway on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. with the trials and finals of the shot put. San Diego State's day will come to an end at 2:45 p.m. as Stone runs in the finals of the 400 meters.
NCAA West Regional Championships
Hayward Field (Eugene, Ore.)
Team Standings (top 5 of 15 and SDSU only; after 5 events scored)
1. Oregon - 27.50
2. Washington - 25
3. Brigham Young - 19
4. UCLA - 16.50
5. Stanford - 14
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9. San Diego State 8