Track and field racks up strong showings

On March 22, the PSU track and field teams were in California for the Sacramento State Track Classic.

Though the teams’ overall finishes were not particularly notable – the men finished fifth with a score of 68, while the women came in sixth with a score of 55.50 – several individual athletes gave great performances.

Junior Ryan Brown won the long-jump title with his leap of 24 feet, 4.5 inches and qualified for the NCAA regionals. Tim Overfield also qualified for regionals with his second-place finish time of 51.9 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.

Jay Williams (110-meter hurdles), Jim Webster (shot put) and Anthony Robinson (400-meter dash) earned Big Sky Conference qualifying marks as well.

BSC qualifiers on the women’s side included Lisa Gunderson, who earned second place in the high jump at 5 feet, 5.25 inches and Ena Shemi, who finished in fourth place in the 100-meter dash.

This past weekend, the teams wrapped up their California visit at the prestigious 29th Annual Stanford Track and Field Invitational in Palo Alto. The event routinely produces hundreds of NCAA automatic or provisional qualifiers, and this year was no exception.

Competition included tough opponents from Southern Cal, California, Stanford and Washington State. Past champions include accomplished athletes such as Gail Devers, Gabe Jennings, Kelli White and Calvin Harrison.

Overfield had an impressive run on Friday, when he won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 51.75. That first-place time broke the PSU record as well as Overfield’s personal best, and qualified him for the NCAA Western regionals.

BSC qualifier Williams placed third in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.70, while Keith Gill also qualified with a sixth-place time of 15.09. Other BSC qualifiers included Jim Sattem, who came in fourth in the 100-meter dash, and Ryan Brown, who finished fifth in the long jump with a distance of 24 feet.

For the women, Megan Kritz’s personal best throw of 42’10” in the shot put was good enough to put her in the running for the BSC championships. Likewise, Ena Shemi posted a season best in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.26. Brady Randall placed fifth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 64.30.

Finishers on Saturday included Anthony Robinson, who qualified for the BSC championships with a 14th-place time of 48.22 in the 400-meter dash. The men’s 4×100 meter relay team finished in eighth place with a time of 41.70.

Also qualifying was Jenny Rogers, who led the women’s team with a time of 17:05.22 in the 5,000 meters. Lisa Gunderson placed seventh in the high jump with a height of 5’7″.

The Vikings’ track and field teams compete again April 12 at the WOU Scoring Meet in Monmouth, Ore.