University of Oregon
NCAA West Regional
Ticket to Ride: Rupp, Blood, Hostetler, Gergel Claim Regional Titles
05/30/09 | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore. -- Galen Rupp, Nicole Blood, Cyrus Hostetler and Melissa Gergel gave the 4,417 fans at Historic Hayward Field something to cheer about as each claimed victory at the NCAA West Regional.
Lucy Cridland gave the final 30 people remaining in the stands Friday night everything else.
Rupp won his final 5,000 meter race as a collegian at Hayward Field in a season-best 13:46.41 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. David McNeil of Northern Arizona was second in 13:46.41, Pac-10 champ Brandon Bethke of Arizona State was third in 13:52.91, Chris Derrick of Stanford was fourth in 13:53.81 and Shadrack Biwott of Oregon was fifth in 13:57.91, as the senior from Eldoret, Kenya, will be making his first trip to the NCAA meet since 2007.
The top five individuals in each event automatically advance to the NCAA meet.
Rupp surged to the lead with three laps remaining and crossed the line to a standing ovation in earning his second NCAA West Region 5,000 crown.
"I let up a little for energy for tomorrow," said the senior from Portland, Ore. "It is the last 5K I'll run here. I just wanted to enjoy the moment and savor it a little bit."
Rupp also advanced to Saturday's final in the 1,500 meters by finishing second in his heat in 3:45.93.
Blood was nearly as dominant in winning her first NCAA West Regional title in the women's 5,000 meters.
The junior from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., pushed the pace early and won in 16:19.14, five seconds better than Katie Follett of Washington, who ran 16:24.52.
"With three laps to go I wanted to play with the strategy," said Blood. "The last three laps also felt good. I think I finished them pretty consistent. I was fresh and going for a strong finish."
Junior Mattie Bridgmon was seventh in the 5,000 in 16:31.96.
Gergel continued her splendid season by winning the pole vault at a height of 14-1.75. That was just a quarter inch off the PR she in winning the Pac-10 title two weeks ago.
"I'm very happy," said the sophomore from Glenwood, Ill. "I started off slow and I did not have a great first and second jump, but I was able to overcome that."
Oregon advanced two men's javelin throwers on to Fayetteville. Pac-10 champion Cyrus Hostetler won the competition with a throw of 239-8, while Alex Wolff advanced to his second straight NCAA Championships with a fourth-place throw of 233-5.
"After the first throw we had done our job," said Hostetler, a junior from Newberg, Ore. "We're going to represent Oregon at nationals. I just wanted to qualify and give us the best chance for that triple crown at nationals."
Wolff needed his best throw on his final attempt guarantee a spot in Fayetteville, though his No. 9 national ranking in the event might have secured him at-large bid regardless.
"It was a great day, and we all did well," said the junior from Newberg. "It feels great to be able to come back and throw my best on my last throw."
At the opposite end of the spectrum was Cridland, the Pac-10 runner-up in the discus.
Down to the last throw of her career in the final event of the night, Cridland heaved the metal disk 166-11 to pass Taylor Freeman of Arizona by four inches and earn the final spot awarded to the NCAA Championships on Friday.
"Four inches is not a lot," said Cridland, fighting back tears. "I pulled it together for my season, actually I pulled it all together for all four years.
"I was not going to let this pass me by," she continued. "I pulled all my energy from all the cracks. I thought if you don't make this, it's your last throw at Hayward Field."
Instead, it will be Cridland's first trip to the national meet.
Two other Ducks, Vernell Warren and Jamesha Youngblood, also earned their first trip to the NCAA Championships on Friday.
Warren finished third in the men's long jump with a personal-best jump of 25-0 in his fifth attempt. Pac-10 champion Luis Rivera-Morales won the long jump with a mark of 25-9.5. Reindell Cole of Cal State Northridge was second at 25-8.25.
Warren also finished seventh in the high jump with a clearance of 6-8.75.
Youngblood needed just two attempts to secure a national bid in the women's long jump. She leapt 21-0 on her second attempt, and then passed the rest of the way as her mark stood up for fourth place.
In preliminary races, sophomore Brianne Theisen broke a 28-year-old school record in the women's 100 hurdles by running 13.56 in heat one. Taking advantage of a plus 1.9 wind, four of the eight who advanced to Saturday's finals came from the first heat. Lauren Williams of Cal State Fullerton won in 13.22, followed by Sirena Williams of UC Davis in 13.50, Lindsay Rowe of UCLA in 13.51 and Theisen.
The women's 4x100 meter relay team started the day with a bang, breaking the school record for the second time this season by running 44.17 in a second-place finish in its preliminary heat. The Ducks' team of Mandy White, Amber Purvis, Keshia Baker and Youngblood broke the record of 44.61 set at the Pepsi Team Invitational earlier this season. Arizona State won the heat in 43.81.
Andrew Wheating, Baker, Matthew Centrowitz, Zoe Buckman, Alexandra Kosinski, Jordan McNamara, Chad Barlow and Ashton Eaton were among the Ducks who advanced to Saturday's finals.
Centrowitz and McNamara posted a 1-3 finish in heat two of the 1,500 meters to join Rupp in the finals. Centrowitz, the 2009 Pac-10 champion, finished in 3:48.10, with Cameron Levins of Southern Utah second in 3:48.48 and McNamara third in 3:48.49.
Baker, the two-time Pac-10 champion, cruised to a win in heat one of the 400 meters in 53.42 to advance to the final.
Wheating, also a two-time Pac-10 champion, raced to the top qualifying time in the 800 meters, running 1:48.40. Oregon's Travis Thompson ran ninth in 1:49.11 and did not qualify for the final, but did establish a personal best.
Buckman, the 2009 Pac-10 champion, had the top qualifying time in the 800 meters, running 2:06.43.
Kosinski was second in her heat of the 1,500 meters in 4:22.16, just behind UC Riverside's Brenda Martinez who ran 4:22.16. Those two joined Oregon State's Casey Masterson, who advanced to the final in a school-record 4:25.02.
The Ducks advanced two runners in the men's 400 meters. Barlow had a fourth place finish in heat one (47.63), while Eaton was second in heat two (47.46).
Other highlights included Arizona State's Ryan Whiting breaking his own Regional record in the shot put with a throw of 68-10.5.
USC's Manjula Wijesekara tied the Regional record in the high jump with a clearance of 7-4.5.
The Trojans' Ahmad Rashad had the top time in the 100 meters, 10.16, which would have been a meet record except the wind was at 2.3, above the legal limit.
Oregon's Jordan Roskelley notched her fifth PR of the season in the pole vault with a clearance of 13-1.75 to tie for eighth. That ranks as the sixth-best clearance in school history.
White ran a personal-best 11.70 in a fifth-place finish in the 100 meter preliminaries, which moved the sophomore from Lake Oswego, Ore., to fifth on the UO all-time list.
Oregon's Eric Hersey ran a collegiate-best 14.21 in a sixth-place finish in the 110 hurdles.
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