May 5, 2008
Irvine, Calif. - Two more NCAA regional qualifying marks by the men and a couple of major personal best improvements by women's distance runners highlighted Cal State Fullerton's efforts over the weekend at the Steve Scott Invitational Track and Field Meet at UC Irvine.
Michael Stokes had the most dramatic accomplishment, beating his personal best by about 18 inches and his 2008 best by almost two feet with an NCAA regional qualifing mark of 24 feet, 11 inches in the long jump. And Roberto Archibold qualified for the men's 400 hurdles with a time of 52.41, his best career mark. Steve Truong also ran his best 400H race at 55.33.
Both David Soto and Eddie Perez posted career bests in the steeplechase with times of 9:30.15 and 9:30.80, respectively. Garrett Myers had a PR in the 400 meter hurdles at 48.24.
On the women's side, Ciara Short continued her strong season with a PR of 24.66 in the 200 meters and Andrea Aguilar and Yomaira Hernandez both ran well in the 5K. Aguilar clocked in at 17:56.79 to beat her previous best by about 10 seconds while Hernandez improved by 24 seconds with a time of 18:04.79.
Lauren Williams passed on the 100 hurdles and her concentration on the 400 hurdles paid off with a personal best by more than a second of 62.24 in that event. Danielle Alvarado posted a Big West qualifying time of 65.07 in the same event.
"This time of year, it's about improvement and getting healthy," said Coach John Elders, "so it was a real positive weekend.
"We were hoping for major improvements and to gain confidence going into the conference championships in about two weeks."