Long Beach State University
Ben Brown Invite
Richardson, Branker Headline 49er Effort At Ben Brown Invite
3/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
March 10, 2008
Fullerton, Calif. - Long Beach State began outdoor season in earnest last weekend at the Ben Brown Invitational, qualifying 23 athletes in total for the Big West Championships. The 49ers found a nice balance of top marks between both the men and the women and between track and field events.
Chris Richardson highlighted the men's effort, earning the first NCAA regional qualifier for the Beach in the javelin, one of the individual disciplines in the decathlon where he is one of the national favorites. Throwing a lifetime-best 67.31m throw, Richardson took first-place in the event by over 30 feet and easily qualified for both the Big West Championships and the NCAA Regionals. The toss was the second-longest in school history.
Another Long Beach State decathlete, Collin Cram, finished third in the javelin, and tied for second in the pole vault with a PR of 4.75m.
Long Beach State also had a huge event with the men's discus. Robert Jennings won the event with a throw of 50.23m, and was pressed by his constant competition in Ed Cornell, who took second with 49.11m. Peter Fourtounis and Rajan Baines rounded out the 49er contingent with fourth and fifth-place finishes respectively to give the Beach four out of the top five places in the event. Jennings also finished sixth place in the hammer throw, just a couple feet outside of NCAA qualification at 55.04m.
Out on the track, three freshman made their first outdoor runs memorable. Christoper Lawson ran a 53:28 in the 400m hurdles, finishing in second overall and was the top collegiate runner in the event. Lawson's run was his first in college competition.
In the 400m without hurdles, Kelsey Caesar ran a clean run to pick up a quick time of 47.86, finishing fourth overall and third among collegiate runners. Rounding out the list, Travis Kuhlman finished the 5000m run with a time of 14:42.80, good for 15th place in his first outdoor run of the season.
Overall, the men qualified 12 athletes in 15 events for the Big West championships. All of the above athletes made their Big West marks, as did Fourtounis in the shotput and to go with his discus mark. Alex Black qualified in the high jump, and both Spencer Phillips and Nimrod Piggee earned Big West times in the 110m hurdles.
On the women's side, the 49ers had a number of outstanding marks on the track. The owner of the Big West's top times in the 100 and 200, Jessica Branker continued to run well in those events. In the 200m she breezed past the competition, winning the event with a time of 24.19, over a half-second faster than second place. In the 100, Branker was also the top collegiate finisher, running an 11.86.
Branker also competed as part of the women's 4x100 team that was the top collegiate relay team. Along with Phylicia Johnson, Miranda Garrido and Patrice White the 49ers qualified for the Big West Championship with a time of 47.79. The women's 4x400 relay team also qualified for the Big West Championships, setting up the Beach nicely for a run at both events.
Ericka Feazell took second place in the 100m hurdles, finishing with a time of 14.28 to qualify for the Big West Championships.
Among the distance runners, Sarah Apgar and Missy Barclay led a slew of LBSU qualifiers in the 5k. Apgar took 15th place with a time of 17:14.10, and Barclay was 19th with a time of 17:20.73, as both runners placed in the school's top ten times in the race, earning sixth and tenth respectively. Carly Harris, Jennifer Rodriguez and Kristina Wilson all also finished before the conference's cutoff of 18:15.00
Out on the field, Miia Mobley was the top collegian in the triple jump, starting the outdoor season with a high of 12.06m to take second place overall. Tiana Johnson's 11.54m was also good enough for Big West entry in the triple jump.
Taylor O'Conner and Jill Reynolds rounded out Big West Championship qualifiers for the women on the field for Long Beach State.
The 49ers are off until March 21 at the USC Invitational, with the exception of Brent Gray, who is among the favorites to win the 200m at the NCAA Indoor National Championships this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.
