Five Mustangs qualify for NCAA Regionals at UCLA invitational

Five members of the Cal Poly track and field team had regional marks Friday at UCLA’s Jackie Joyner Kersee/Rafer Johnson Invitational at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.

Two did so with personal bests in the long jump, which Sharon Day won at 19 feet, 9 inches, slightly better than her teammate Jasmine Pickett’s second-place bound of 19-8 _.

Kevin Jones, meanwhile, established a personal pinnacle of his own by winning the pole vault with a clearance of 16-6 _, his first career regional performance.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Chris Frazeur improved his personal benchmark by more than a half-second while finishing third at 51.68 seconds.

Jeff Lease rounded out the Mustangs’ regionally qualifying quintet with a ninth-place steeplechase time of 9:06.51.

Other event winners on behalf of Cal Poly were Jenna Homes in the pole vault at 12-1 «, Julieann Dufresne in the shot put at 45-9 and Jessica Eggleston in the triple jump at 40-3 «.

Sara Klein tied for runner-up distinction in the high jump at 5-5.

Coming in third place were Tre’dale Tolver in the 100 at 10.71 and D.J. Price in the triple jump with a Big West Conference-qualifying, seasonal best 46-2.

Fourth-place Mustangs included Whitney DeWeese in the shot put at 44-4 _, Ian Rice in the javelin throw with a personal-best 179-2 and Kyle Inks in the pole vault at 15-7.

Throwing the discus, Carlton Gillespie came in fifth at 154-2, followed by Chris White in sixth at 153-6 and Kyle Wilson in seventh at 149-10.

Joining Homes in the pole vault were Joanna Burkhart, who came in fifth with a season-best 11-7 _ and Nicki Lopes in sixth at 11-1 _, a seasonal highpoint in her own right.

Eggleston came in seventh in the long jump at 18-5 ¬, as did Joe Gatel in the 800 with a personal-best 1:53.57 and Danielle Sinclair in the 800 at 2:15.11.

The NCAA West Regionals will be held in Northridge from May 30-31.

In the more immediate future, some Mustangs will participate in the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, held Thursday through Sunday, and others at the Long Beach State Invitational on Saturday.