April 26, 2008

Results

Complete BYU Robison Invitational Results

Provo, UT--The Idaho State Track and Field team finished the BYU Clarence Robison Invitational Saturday afternoon with a bang. Two Bengals met three NCAA regional qualifying marks between them while Idaho State met 13 Big Sky qualifying marks as a team.

The three NCAA regional qualifying marks came from stand-out athletes Junior Cassie Merkley and Senior Lois Ricardi who have already qualified for nationals this season. Merkley grabs her fifth and sixth NCAA qualifying performance this season when she matched the high jump mark with her first place finish with a height of 5-08.75 and she ran a first place finish with a time of 13.82 in the 100-meter hurdles. Her 100-meter performance gave Merkley her fifth top-ten performances in school history.

Ricardi took third place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:45.10, exceeding the NCAA mark by 5.15 to gain her second national qualifying time of the season. Ricardi's first NCAA qualifying time was her best performance of her career with a time of 10:40.64 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her excellent performance gave Ricardi her fourth top-ten performance in school history.

The women's team also had exceptional performances which exceeded Big Sky qualifying marks from sophomore Carrie Talbot who took fourth place in the hammer throw with a distance of 159-03 and junior Trinelle McKinley who captured fourth place with a time of 56.63 in the 400-meter dash finals. Jenny Downey, a senior, took first place with a time of 2:15.63 in the 800-meter run open.

Sophomore Sydney Wendt had an outstanding day when she took second place in the triple jump with a distance of 38-06.00 and met the Big Sky qualifying mark for the high jump with a height of 5-07.00 to capture second place.

For the men, sophomore Sam Pierson was the only Bengal to meet a Big Sky qualifying mark. Pierson vaulted a height of 16-00.75 to take fifth place, exceeding the Big Sky mark by 6.75 inches. Senior Branden Teeter took fourth place in the 1 mile run B race open with a time of 4:27.35 and Ryan Davis followed with a time of 4:31.64 to capture fifth place.

Junior Jacob Keller took sixth place with a height of 6-4.75 in the high jump while freshman Brandon McNew captured ninth place with his 5-10.75 height. McNew also took sixth place in the triple jump with his distance of 40-10.50. Freshman Raegan Ward finished in fifth place with his distance of 43-03.75 in the triple jump.

The Bengals next competition will occur at the BSU Invite on May 3rd in Boise.