May 14, 2011
Photo Gallery
Irvine, Calif. - Seniors Lauren Williams and Ciara Short defended their Big West Conference Championships Saturday to highlight Cal State Fullerton's efforts Saturday at the Track and Field Finals at UC Irvine.
Williams won the 100 meter hurdles in 13.51 to become only the second four-time Big West champion in any event (joining UCR's Brenda Martinez in the 1500 meters in 2007-10) while Short again doubled in the 200 and 400. Short broke her own school record with a time of 52.31 in the 400 and captured the 200 in 23.42.
Williams (first) and Short (second) also ran the first two legs of Fullerton's victorious 4x100 meter relay team along with Katie Wilson and Ashley Sims, who combined to clock in at 45.88. It's the first time this foursome has run the event and the first time Fullerton has won this event in either gender.
Both the Titan men and women finished in eighth place, the women with 61 points and the men with 25. Cal State Northridge won the women's title with 165.5 points over runnerup UC Santa Barbara with 126. Long Beach won the men's crown with 177.5 points ahead of runnerup Cal Poly at 131.
Fullerton's other placewinners Saturday were Bonnie Sorensen, who tied for fourth in the high jump at 5 feet, 7 inches, and Tony Crutchfield, who was third in the men's hurdles in 14.75.
"The team's output exceeded expectations and we couldn't have asked anything more from them," said Head Coach John Elders.
Next up is NCAA Regional competition in Eugene, Oregon, on May 26-28. Short is seeded fourth in the 400 at 52.31 and 14th in the 200 at 23.29 while Williams is seeded 19th at 13.43 in the hurdles. The top seeds are Jessica Bears (51.55) and Jeneba Tarmoh (22.46) of Texas A&M and Tiffani McReynolds of Baylor at 12.74.