Day advances at U.S. Olympic Trials

Former Cal Poly standout Sharon Day advanced Monday evening to Friday’s women’s high jump finals at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

She cleared 5 feet, 10 « inches and 5-11 «, both on first attempts.

Also advancing to the finals were nine others who cleared 5-11 «, and four more at 5-10 « – all on first attempts.

Fellow former Mustang Kaylene Wagner missed on all three of her attempts at 5-10 «.

Day, the trials’ No. 4 seed, finished her Cal Poly career June 13 at the collegiate national outdoor championships in Des Moines, Iowa with a second-place finish (at 6-1 ¬) after meeting the Olympic “A” qualifying standard May 17 at Cal State Northridge (at 6-4 _).

Friday’s finals will be held at 7:30 p.m.

In other competition Monday, former Mustang Maggie Vessey placed fifth in the women’s 800-meter run finals, in 2 minutes, 2.01 seconds. A trip to Beijing, where the 2008 Summer Olympic Games begin Aug. 8, eluded her by less than a second.

On Sunday, another of the six former Mustangs to qualify for this year’s trials, Stephanie Brown-Trafton, moved on to her second Olympics by finishing third in the women’s discus final at 205-6. At the 2004 games, she placed 11th in the first of two prelims groups, at 192-1.

Former Cal Poly star Jon Takahashi failed to clear the opening height of 17-8 « in the men’s pole vault Friday.

The trials, which continue through Sunday, will resume Thursday, when former Mustang Ben Bruce will compete in the men’s steeplechase at 9:10 p.m.

While the track and field trials continue in Oregon, a trio of current Cal Poly swimmers has made their Olympic-hopeful presences felt at respective trials at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

There, incoming junior Chasen Nick finished 65th in the men’s 100 back on Monday at 57.7, and sophomore Peter Kline 48th in the men’s 400 individual medley on Sunday, touching the wall after 4:32.27.

Trying to qualify in coming days will be fellow sophomores Gloria Benefield (in the women’s 200 butterfly on Wednesday) and Matt Waggoner (in the men’s 1,500 free on Saturday).