April 20, 2008

Complete Mt. SAC Relay Results

Walnut, CA--Two Bengals were sent to compete at the Mt. SAC Relays Wednesday and Thursday. Junior Cassie Merkley was sent to compete at the Azusa Pacific University Heptathlon while Senior Lois Ricardi competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Mt. SAC Relays at Hilmer Lodger Stadium.

Ricardi took third place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:40.64 which qualified her for regionals. The NCAA Division I regional qualifying standard is 10:50.25. Ricardi's performance also gave her the second best time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Idaho State's school history. The record holder is Emily Mulick who ran the steeplechase in 10:18.54 in 2001.

Merkley captured seventh place in the heptathlon with 5,309 points, meeting the provisional NCAA qualifying standard. However, Merkley met the automatic qualifying standard in the heptathlon with 5,563 points at the CSUN Decathlon and Heptathlon. Her heptathlon performance at the Azusa Pacific Heptathlon gave her the sixth best performance in school history. However, Merkley already holds the school record with her feat at the CSUN Heptathlon.

Merkley ran a time of 14.35 in the 100-meter hurdles Wednesday and 24.98 in the 200-meter dash. Merkley finished the first day with 3,310 points. On the second day of competition Merkley threw a distance of 142-10 in the javelin throw.