With the first day of the 2010 Big West Track & Field Championships wrapped up, the Cal State Northridge women and men hold pole positions heading into the final day of competition Saturday. The league meet is being held at Matador Track on the campus of Cal State Northridge.
The CSUN women are in the lead with 79 points, 14 ahead of second place UC Santa Barbara. UC Davis checks in at third with 39 tallies, while Cal State Fullerton finished the day in fourth with 31 points. Long Beach State is in fifth with 27 points, while Cal Poly (16), UC Riverside (14) and UC Irvine (2) completed the scoring.
The men's standings have the Matadors in first with 67 points, but Cal Poly is right on their heels with 62 points. Third place is UC Santa Barbara with 56.5 points, while Long Beach State is fourth with 42 points. Fifth place belongs to Cal State Fullerton with 21.5 points, with UC Davis (13), UC Riverside (11) and UC Irvine (0) completing the leaderboard.
The first event of the day kicked off bright and early as the men's hammer competition started at 9am. Alex Butler of Cal State Northridge won the event with a mark of 58.28 meters (191-02). In the women's competition, Morgan Bogard gave the Matadors a sweep of the titles with an effort of 57.77 meters (189-06).
The women's long jump finished up next with Shelese Ruffin giving CSUN its third consecutive win with a jump of 6.12 meters (20-01). UC Santa Barbara's Michael Guerra snapped the Matador momentum with his win in the javelin, tossing the apparatus 62.40 meters (204-09).
The women's pole vault gave CSUN more points as Tiana Webberley claimed the title after clearing the bar at 3.78 meters (12-04.75). Long Beach State picked up a win in the womens javelin as Randi Hicks tied the conference meet record with a toss of 49.47 meters (162-04).
The last two field events of the day were the men's high jump and the men's long jump. In the high jump, Lance Gonzales of Cal State Northridge and LaRon Brown each cleared 2.09 meters (6-10.25), but Gonzales took the top slot by clearing the height sooner than Brown. In the long jump, Reindell Cole gave CSUN another first place finish with an effort of 7.53 meters (24-08.50).
There were only two track scored track events during Fridays action, the steeplechase and the 10,000 meter run. In the steeple, Cal State Fullerton's Carolyn Ellis overcame a fall on the final lap to win the women's event in 10:30.36. The men's race was won by UC Santa Barbara's Julian deRubira as he finished the grueling race in 8:52.57.
The 10K wrapped up the day and gave the crowd a historical performance. Danielle Domenichelli won the women's competition in 34:50.29, breaking an eight-year old meet record. In the men's race, Cal Poly picked up points thanks to Joe Gatel who finished the final event of the day in 30:59.30.