CHARLOTTE, N.C. – UC San Diego had several student-athletes in action on Thursday, as the 2010 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships got underway at the Irwin Belk Track Complex on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University.
After four events, junior
Stephanie LeFever is currently in 12th place in the heptathlon with a total of 2,988 points. She finished fifth in the shot put (37'0.5"), ninth in the 100-meter hurdles (14.48), ninth in the 200-meter dash (25.38), and 15th in the high jump (4'10.5").
LeFever, who posted her first-career victory in the heptathlon at the CCAA Championships earlier this month, trails Northwest Missouri's Emily Churchman by just 63 points.
LeFever also took part in the long jump on the opening day of competition, placing seventh overall with a leap of 19'2". Racquel Anderson of Lincoln took home the national title in the event with a mark of 19'11.50.
Marie Archer was the other Triton to compete in a final on Thursday, finishing 13th in the hammer throw with a toss of 166'1". Amanda Madden of Northern State had the top mark in that event, hitting 192'7" to win the crown.
In preliminary action, senior
Christine Merrill had the top 400-meter hurdle time at 58.65, which was just shy of the 58.59 that won her the national championship in San Angelo, Texas last season. Merrill is one of eight qualifiers that will move on to the finals, scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PT on Saturday evening.
Junior
Kelly Fogarty qualified in the 100-meter dash, posting the seventh-best time at 11.75. The final for that event is slated for Saturday at 4:08 p.m.
UCSD failed to qualify in the women's 4x100 relay, as Merrill, Fogarty,
Kathleen Hitchens, and
Jacqueline Rose finished 10th with a time of 46.29. The group was just 0.12 seconds shy of making the cut.
A total of six national champions were crowned on Thursday with finals in five more events scheduled for Friday.
Casey Ryan will be competing in the men's high jump final, while
Donna LeFever will take part in the finals for women's pole vault.
Fogarty, Merrill, and
Daniel Anderson will be running in preliminaries of the 200, 100-meter hurdles, and 800, respectively.
