Fayetteville, Ark. ? Eight individuals and one relay team from the Western Athletic Conference advanced to the finals in their respective events after the first two days of competition at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., hosted by the University of Arkansas.
Boise State’s Simon Wardhaugh started the day in the morning with the fifth best mark in the preliminaries of the men’s hammer at 218-11 (66.72m). The senior will compete in the hammer finals on Friday (June 12) at 1:00 p.m. (CT). His best throw of the season is 224-00 (68.29m).
Ryan Grinnell and Pontus Thomee qualified for their finals over 12 hours later on Wednesday following the weather delay at the University of Arkansas campus which suspended competition in the early evening.
Grinnell was one of 13 student-athletes to advance to the finals of the men’s high jump with a mark of 6-10.75 (2.10m). Grinnell’s top mark of the 2009 season is 7-1.00 (2.16m). The finals are set for 7:00 p.m. (CT) on Friday.
A nine-time individual WAC champion (a Boise State record), Grinnell will compete in preliminaries of the triple jump on Friday beginning at 4:30 p.m. (CT). Grinnell is the only student-athlete at this year’s national championships to compete in all three jumping events.
Thomee qualified for the finals of the men’s javelin when he placed 12th in the qualifying round with a throw of 218-08 (66.65m). Thomee, who has a season best throw of 239-3 (72.93m), will compete in the javelin finals at 7:30 p.m. (CT) on Friday.
Fresno State’s Latrisha Jordan battled her way through the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles Thursday to earn a spot in the event finals.
The freshman from Ceres, Calif., clocked a 58.14, a new Fresno State record and career-best. Jordan finished third in heat to automatically advance to the finals Friday at 5:55 p.m. PST.
Ranked No. 20 of the 27 competitors entering the NCAAs, Jordan has defied the odds to move into the nine-person final. Jordan, who is seeded No 6 for the final, is one of two freshman earning bids to the final.
University of Hawai?i high jumpers Amber Kaufman and Emily Sheppard advanced to the high jump finals by qualifying through the preliminary round Wednesday.
Kaufman and Sheppard were among a group of 15 athletes who cleared 5-9 ¾ (1.77m), which narrowed the field from 23 high jumpers.
Both Kaufman and Sheppard cleared their opening two heights of 5-7 (1.70m) and 5-8 ½ (1.74m) on their first attempts. At 5-9 ¾ (1.77m), Kaufman missed on her first attempt but cleared on her second attempt. Sheppard needed all three attempts before finally clearing the bar on her final jump.
Kaufman finished fifth and Sheppard tied for sixth at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships. However, Kaufman is ranked second nationally this season and is the reining NCAA West Regional champion.
UH’s Annett Wichmann is currently competing in the heptathlon, the only WAC athlete to compete in the event.
Idaho hurdler Paul Dittmer had to sweat out two heats to find out his fate on Thursday, but when the dust settled, the sophomore earned a trip to Friday’s semifinal round.
Dittmer ran a 14.12 qualifying time in the second heat of the day, but finished fourth and just missed out on an automatic spot in the semifinals. After the top three in each heat qualify, the next six overall fastest times also move on, and Dittmer ended up third among that group.
LA Tech’s women's 4X400 relay team of El Charrita Reynolds, Kamelia Stroy, Monique Wright and Lashannda Worthy added to Alexander's top 10 finish by finishing ninth in the prelims with a season best time of 3:34.43 seconds. The ninth place finish not only advances the team to the finals which will be run on Saturday, but also guarantees the team a top ten finish in the nation and a possible All-American honor.
Utah State's Krista Larson advanced to the women's hammer throw finals by finishing in the top 12 Wednesday in the first day of action.
After being granted an at-large bid to the championships, Larson, a senior from Kaysville, Utah (Davis HS), earned her spot in Friday's final round by finishing 12th-place in the hammer throw with a distance of 188-01 (57.33m). Her mark qualified her for the final round which will be held Friday at 10 a.m. (MT). Larson's mark was .01m behind the No. 11 qualifier, Zlata Tarasova of Kansas at 57.34m (188-01).
Competition continues Friday and concludes Saturday night at John McDonnell Field.