The Big Sky Sends Eight to the NCAA Indoor Championships
T. William Gooch
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OGDEN, Utah (March 9, 2010) - After being shutout of the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2009 the Big Sky rebounded to send eight athletes from five schools the championship.
Sacramento State leads the field with three qualifiers. The trio of Hornets include Lea Wallace, Renisha Robinson and Ronald Brookins. Wallace and Robinson cemented their entry into the championships at last weekend’s UW Last Chance Meet in Seattle. Wallace met the NCAA automatic standard, and set the Sacramento State record in the process, with a time of 2:04.73 in the 800m. That mark places her seventh in the nation heading into the championships. Robinson also set a career best at the meet and came in under the provisional standard with a time of 2:05.38, seeding the junior at 13th overall.
Brookins had to wait until the final moment to find out if he had qualified for the 60-meter hurdles. Each event is guaranteed to have 14 competitors in the field with the remaining spots coming from at-large entries. This season there was a five-way tie at 7.83 second, prompting the field to be increased to 19 competitors.
Northern Arizona will send All-American David McNeill and Javier Villarreal. McNeill set NCAA automatic qualifying times in the 3,000m and 5,000m earlier this season. His times of 7:47.52 in the 3,000m and his time of 13:39.32 in 5,000m are the fastest in the nation and seeds him at number one in both events in the championships. At the Big Sky Championships he took first place in the 3,000m and second in the second in the mile.
Villarreal had to wait until the final weekend to find out if he was going to be included on the NCAA field. His toss of 18.55 meters back in January heldup throughout the season to place him 14th seed at the championship.
Montana State’s Patrick Casey qualified in the men’s mile. Casey goes into the race ranked tenth in the nation in a field of 16 runners. This is Casey’s first season running indoor track and field. The freshman is the reigning Big Sky Champion in the mile.
Idaho State sophomore Mike Arnold cleared a career-best 17-7.75 in pole vault at the UW Last Chance Meet to finish in second place. Arnold is currently ranked No. 10 nationally with the mark he recorded in Seattle, Wash. The sophomore won the Big Sky Indoor title last week with a jump of 17-3.75.
Eastern Washington’s Nicole Luckenbach will round out the Big Sky competitors as shemade the field in the weight throw. Luckenbach’s throw of 20.04m seeds her16th at the national meet. Last week she was named the Big Sky Indoor Female Athlete of the Meet.
The championships will be held March 12-13 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will serve as the host.
ESPN360.com will stream the championships LIVE beginning at 8 p.m. CST on Fri., March 12 and 6:10 p.m. CST on Sat., March 13. To access the live stream, visit www.ESPN360.com. ArkansasRazorbacks.com will stream supplemental coverage as available when ESPN360.com is not live. Live results can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
A total of 568 participants will compete in the championships. Student-athletes qualified for the championships by reaching the automatic or provisional standards established for each event. The complete list of all student-athletes competing in the championships is available on the NCAA Web site at NCAA.org, sports, men's/women's indoor track and field, Division I championships information.