Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Send Six To National Championships
6/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
June 10, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - Long Beach State will finish the 2008 Track and Field season this week as six athletes compete for the school at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Big West Field Athlete of the Year Chris Richardson will be the first 49er to compete, starting the decathlon at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The NCAA Championships will be held from Wednesday, June 11 through Saturday June 14 on the campus of Drake University, where the 49ers competed earlier this season for the Drake Relays.
"We're excited to be back in Iowa after our win in the sprint medley at the Drake Relays," said head coach Andy Sythe. "Our experience there was intentionally designed to prepare for the national meet, and we plan on building from the confidence we gained there to perform well this week."
Richardson, the Big West champion in the decathlon, will make his attempt at a national championship in the grueling event as one of the top competitors in the event. Richardson, tabbed as the preseason favorite in Track and Field News, will only compete in the decathlon, taking off the javelin despite qualifying for the national championships after finishing third at the Big West Championships.
Also competing in multiple events is Big West Track Athlete of the Year Brent Gray. The winner of both the 100 and 200-meter dashes at both the Big West Championships and NCAA Western Regional, Gray will compete in each race at the National Championships as well.
Also competing individually is Katelyn Ciarelli, who makes her first trip to the NCAA Championships after winning the Big West title in the discus.
The 49ers will also boast three more athletes, as the men's 4x100m relay team will make a return trip to Des Moines, where they earned a spot in the finals at the nationally prestigious Drake Relays. Alex Goldberg, Kelsey Caesar and Austin Fowler join Gray in the field, kicking off the running events on Wednesday with 4x100m relay preliminaries.
Qualifying for the discus, 100m dash and 4x100 relays begin Wednesday, as does the full decathlon competition. The 200m qualifying begins on Thursday.
Players Mentioned
