May 27, 2005
EUGENE, Ore. - The first day of the 2005 NCAA West Region Championships came to a close inside historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., Friday night with five members of the Arizona State University track and field team earning berths into the national meet to be held in two weeks. As a team, the women are in a three-way tie with Washington and UCLA for second place with 21 points while Stanford leads with 26.50 points. On the men's side, California leads the way with 29 points while the Sun Devils sit tied with Cal State Fullerton for 12th place with eight points so far.
Four women and one man earned a spot in the national meet by finishing among the Top 5 in their respective events on the day. The women were led by pole vaulter Angela Tavlarides, who finished third in the event with a clearance of 4.06m (13-3.75). Both Porchea Carroll and Jessica Pressley earned berths by finishing fourth in the long jump (6.25m/20-6.25) and the hammer (61.23m/200-11), respectively, while Desiree Davila rounded out the qualifiers by placing fifth in the 5,000m run (16:45.22). The men saw Trevell Quinley finish second in the long jump to earn his berth as his mark of 7.79m (25-06.75) advanced him to the national meet.
Elsewhere in the women's competition, seven marks qualified to move on to the finals Saturday with Carroll securing two spots. Prior to her fourth place long jump finish, Carroll finished second in her heat of the 100m dash and third overall with a time of 11.44 before winning her heat and placing second overall in the 200m dash at 23.33. Kandace Tucker also qualified in the 200m dash at 23.82, placing her sixth overall.
Also in the sprints, Cassandra Reed sits third overall in the 400m dash at 54.89 while Christina Hardeman stands sixth at 55.75. Both ladies, along with Tucker and Carroll, posted the second-fastest time in the 4x100m relay at 44.96 to advance to the finals. The final qualifier on the day for the women was Rachel Ellison in the 1,500m run, where she placed sixth overall at 4:27.89.
On the men's side of qualifications, Steven Koehnemann advanced in the 100m dash with a seasonal-best 10.39, placing him third overall. Domenik Peterson (46.31), Jason Barton (46.87) and Lewis Banda (47.03) each qualified for the final of the 400m dash while Koehnemann, Peterson, Seth Amoo and Kelvin Love combined to run the fastest 4x100m relay time (39.40) to advance to the finals.
Several events in the field and one on the track went as a final on Friday. For the women, Victoria Jackson placed eighth in the 5,000m run at 17:02.37 and did not advance to the NCAA meet in the event, although she will represent the Sun Devils in the 10,000m run. In the field, Cara Walker placed 11th in the pole vault with a mark of 3.81m (12-06.00) and Jennifer Kowacz placed 24th in the hammer with a toss of 48.94m (160-07). On the men's side, Velibor Radejovic (14:31.97) and Juan Reyes (14:34.60) placed 12th and 15th, respectively, in the 5,000m run to round out the running finals. In the field, Tomas Navarro finished 15th in the shot put (15.78m/51-9.25) and 24th in the discus (49.39m/162-00) while Andrew Smith finished 11th in the javelin (60.79m/199-05) and did not place in the shot put (foul). Travis Jones rounded out the competitors as she placed 13th in the discus with a throw of 52.63m (172-08).
The Sun Devils will look to finish in the Top 5 individually and Top 3 in the relay events Saturday in Eugene to advance to the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships, being held June 8-10 in Sacramento, Calif., on the campus of Sacramento State.