June 24, 2009

USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Website (results, video, start lists, etc.)

USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships Website (results, video, start lists, etc.)

EUGENE, Ore. - Five members of the UC Davis men's track and field team, including hurdlers Jazz Trice and Polly Gnepa who advanced to the NCAA Division I Championships earlier this month, will participate this weekend at the prestigious USA Outdoor Championships and USA Junior Outdoor Championships at the University of Oregon.

Trice and Gnepa, who hold down the top two spots, respectively, on UC Davis' all-time 110-meter high hurdles list, will join 400-meter hurdler Alex Wilright in USA Outdoor meet which will help decide the team for the IAAF World Championships later this summer.

Pole vaulter Ethan Ostrom and javelin thrower Brock Bennett will compete in the USA Junior Championships looking to secure a spot on the country's team that will compete at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships next month.

The Aggies' quintet will compete in UC Davis uniforms helping to bring more prestige to a program that enjoyed a tremendous season in 2009. UC Davis finished second at the Big West Conference Championships while also sending eight to the NCAA West Regional which was also held at Oregon.

UC Davis will open competition at Oregon this week on Thursday at 3:55 p.m. as Ostrom competes in the pole vault. He has a season-best mark of 16 feet, 6.75 inches at the Big West Championship, tying him for fourth all-time at UC Davis.

All three Aggie hurdlers race on Friday starting with Trice and Gnepa who open high-hurdle competition with preliminary races at 3:20. The talented field will be comprised of five heats with Trice - who has a career-best wind-aided mark of 13.57 seconds - in the first race and Gnepa - who made it to the NCAA semifinals - in the fifth heat. Gnepa has a season-best wind-aided time of 13.69.

Trice's race will feature Beijing Olympics silver medalist David Payne while Gnepa will race against bronze medalist David Oliver in his heat. The top two finishers in each heat plus the next six best times will advance to the next round. The semifinals and finals will be contested on Saturday afternoon.

Wilright set the 400 hurdles school record of 50.60 this year while also capturing titles at the Cal-Nevada and Big West championships. He'll be in the third heat, looking for a top-three finish which would secure him a spot in Saturday's semifinal. The hurdles final will be held on Sunday.

Gold medalist Angelo Taylor and bronze medalist Bershawn Jackson are also entered in the 400 hurdles but are not in the same heat as Wilright. Silver medalist Kerron Clement will not run the hurdles, instead focusing on the open 400.

Bennett, a freshman from Medford, Ore., will compete in the first flight of the javelin in the junior nationals on Sunday at 3:10 p.m. Bennett had a season-best mark of 192-5 at the Sacramento State Open, tying him for 10th all-time at UC Davis.

The meet will be nationally televised by ESPN on Friday and Saturday, and on NBC on Sunday.