Long Beach State University
NCAA West Regional
Brent Gray Caps Big Day At NCAA Regionals
5/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 31, 2008
Northridge, Calif. - Brent Gray won two events and led the 49er relay teams to NCAA Finals qualifying as well in the last day of competition at the NCAA Western Regionals. Long Beach State's season will finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in two weeks.
The favorite coming into the 200-meter dash, Gray lived up to his top billing with a run of 20.67 into a strong wind. He also grabbed a win in the 100m dash, running a 10.39 to grab his second gold on the day.
Gray's presence was also felt in the team's 4x100m relay run, where the group qualified for the NCAA Championships. Along with Gray, Alex Goldberg, Austin Fowler and Kelsey Caesar ran a relay of 40.18 to take third place and earn a trip to Des Moines, Iowa.
Alex Freitas just missed out on an automatic berth in the 800m run, finishing sixth overall with a time of 1:49.92, just .16 hundredths out of fifth place.
In other action on the day, Ed Cornell led a trio of discus athletes with a mark of 170'8", and Jessica Branker earned five additional points for the 49ers by finishing seventh in the 100m and sixth in the 200m dash for Long Beach State.
In the final team tally, the women finished 13th overall with 12 points, while the men finished in a three-way tie for ninth out of 25 teams with 39 points.
After the NCAA Regionals, the 49ers have six athletes automatically qualified for the NCAA finals in five events. Chris Richardson and Katelyn Ciarelli earned berths Friday in the javelin and the discus respectively, and Alex Freitas still has a good chance to become a seventh 49er as an at-large selection in the 800m. Richardson is also qualified for the decathlon as well.
Qualifying athletes will head for Des Moines, Iowa in two weeks for the NCAA Outdoor Championships hosted by Drake University from June 11-14.
Players Mentioned
