Nine Men and Three Women To Represent the Big Sky
T. William Gooch
Ogden, Utah – The Big Sky will be represented by nine men and three women at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. June 9th.
The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will send the most athletes as David McNeill, Ahmed Osman, Andres Rossini, and Javier Villreal all qualified for the championship event. McNeill will look to capture his first outdoor national title in the 5,000m after finishing second last season and winning the indoor title earlier this season. He owns the nation’s fastest 5K time this season, after posting a time of 13:25.63 back on March 26th.
Osman will compete in the 10,000m after finishing second at the West Regional with a time of 29:37.42. Rossini had a discus throw of 185’ 9” in Austin, Texas, placing him eighth in the event and punched his ticket to Eugene, Ore. Villreal, a senior from Eloy, Ariz., clinched his spot in the shot put when he came up with a toss of 58-4.25 to finish 10th overall in the final flight.
Junior Ronald Brookins, who advanced in the long jump on Thursday, became the first Sacramento State athlete to qualify for the outdoor championships in two events in the school's Div. I era. On Saturday, the junior finished third in the third heat of the 110m-hurdles to earn one of three automatic berths to the NCAA Championships. Brookins finished with the eighth-best time in the 24-man field.
His time of 13.61, established a new Big Sky Conference record, breaking Wiley King's (Weber State) time of 13.71 from 2004.
Weber State’s Brett Hales and Jace Nye each qualified in the 3,000m-steeplechase. Hales, running in the third heat on Friday evening, posted a career best time of 8:49.02, winning the heat. Earlier in the first heat, Nye, the two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion, also ran a career best in 8:49.31. Hales’ time ended up being the eighth best, while Nye had the 10th best.
Also representing the Big Sky in the steeplechase will be Idaho State’s John Ricardi. Ricardi finished the event in a time of 8:49.35, a career-best time. He had been ranked No. 43 in the steeplechase going into this weekend, but will enter the championship with the 19th best time in the field.
Portland State’s Nick Trubachik qualified for the national championships after his performance at the Big Sky Championships in the decathlon.
The women of the Big Sky will be represented by Idaho State’s Cassie Merkley, Montana’s Katrina Drennen, and Montana State’s Emily Tyrell. Merkely qualified for to two events, the javelin and the heptathlon. Like Trubachik, Merkley had already locked-up a spot in the heptathlon weeks before. To qualify for the javelin she had to finish in the top 12 at the west regional to punch another ticket to Eugene, Ore. She enters the championship as the 14th seed in the javelin and 18th in the heptathlon.
Drennen took any suspense out of the qualifying process when she finished fourth in the 1,500m, earning one of her heat’s five automatic qualifying spots to nationals. She finished with a time of 4:19.36.
Emily Tyrrell ended up taking third place in the javelin with a throw of 170-9, a career best throw and a new MSU record. She broke her own school record of 166-1 set last season.