AZUSA, Calif. - Just 12 days prior to the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, several members of the UC San Diego track and field team competed at the Azusa Pacific Last Chance Qualifier on Saturday with the purpose of recording their best marks of the season.
“The athletes all performed well at the last chance qualifier today,” said UCSD women's head coach Darcy Ahner. “At this point, we just play the waiting game to see who gets in (to the NCAA Championships).”
The meet, which was held at Cougar Athletic Stadium, featured three Tritons in field events who recorded personal-best performances.
With the conclusion of the meet, the Tritons capped off the regular season. In all, nine women and eight men accumulated a combined 19 NCAA Division II provisional qualifier marks and one automatic qualifier.
Only a week removed from setting a personal-record of 16'2.5” at the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Track & Field Championships, junior Clint Rosser outdid himself. The Westchester native won the men's pole vault, clearing a height of 16'3.5” to strengthen his hold on the third-highest measurement in UCSD history for that event.
Right behind Rosser was junior Benjamin Berthet, who had a share of second place upon lifting over a height of 15'9.75”.
After participating in 12 meets in which performances could count towards provisional marks, senior Ryan Eckert finally earned his provisional in the shot put, finishing as the runner-up with a personal-record toss of 54'2.75”. The mark also moves the Rocklin native to third on the Tritons' all-time top 10 list for that event. Senior Matt Endler (45'11.25”) ended the shot put in a tie for fifth.
As they did with the pole vault, the men also took two of the top three slots in the hammer throw on Friday, in which seniors A.B. Shaheen (190'0”) and Zach Nagengast (172'9”) placed second and third, respectively.
Nagengast later came in seventh in the discus throw, launching a top mark of 163'5”, while Endler earned eighth place with a best throw that extended the tape 152'5”.
In the javelin throw, redshirt senior Kiley Libuit released a spear that traveled 173'0” to turn in a seventh-place result for the Tritons.
On the track, senior Anthony Heredia contended in the 1500, where he turned in a sixth-place finish with 4:04.34 showing on the clock.
Coming away with the UCSD women's top finish was sophomore Sabrina Pimentel, who won the women's 800 with a time of 2:12.23.
Teaming with senior Raquel Ormsby, junior Lauren Irish and senior Chelsey Kamson, in that order, Pimentel also led off UCSD in the 4x400 relay. The quartet finished fourth after Kamson crossed the finish line in 3:51.79.
Freshman Kristin Sato took third after leaping into the pit with a mark of 39'1.75” in the triple jump. Sophomore Chantia Justice touched down with a leap measuring 37'5” to settle for seventh in the event.
Elsewhere in the field, senior Jessica Miklaski sent the javelin 124'10”, a distance that was good enough for fourth place.
Freshmen Megan Benham and Sydney Blakeley in the pole vault, who each have a top mark of 12'0.5” this season, concluded the event tied for fifth. Both glided over the bar successfully while it was set at a height of 11'10.5”.
Perhaps the women's most important performance at the meet was senior Uchenna Agbahiwe's in the discus. Agbahiwe, in her fifth-place showing, improved both her provisional and personal-best mark to 147'4”. The Millikan alumna additionally reinforced her grasp of the eighth-best throw in Triton history for that competition.
A yet-to-be-determined contingent of Tritons will close the 2013 season at the NCAA Championships in Pueblo, Colo. The three-day meet will run May 23-25.
-- UCSDtritons.com --
