6 CSUN Season Bests Make Little Qualifying Headway

Call it the price a team pays for moving up to the NCAA Division I level.

The Cal State Northridge men’s and women’s track and field teams, which placed second and fifth, respectively, in last year’s Division II championships, recorded school season bests in six events in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays over the weekend, but all the Matadors had to show for it was one more provisional qualifier for the Division I meet.

Northridge athletes have posted provisional qualifying marks in seven events this season, but the Matadors have been blanked in automatic qualifiers for the NCAA meet, May 29-June 1, in Eugene, Ore.

Provisional qualifiers will be used to fill out the fields in the NCAA championships if the number of automatic qualifiers is below the desired level.

Senior Darcy Arreola produced two Northridge season bests. She placed second in the women’s invitational 1,500 meters in 4 minutes 18.09 seconds Saturday to better the provisional standard of 4:23.00 and won her heat of the university/open 800 on Sunday in 2:07.23. Both marks, however, were short of the automatic standards of 4:18.00 and 2:05.50. Arreola previously had bettered the 800 provisional standard of 2:08.00.

Junior Ryan Vierra finished seventh in the men’s university/open hammer throw with a personal and 1991 school best of 192 feet 4 inches Saturday, but that was well short of the automatic standard of 205-1. Senior Kevin Hendrix set a CSUN season best in the 100 with a second-place time of 10.60 in Saturday’s university-open first heat.

Sophomore Charlotte Vines ran a personal and CSUN season best of 11.72 to win the first heat of the women’s 100 on Saturday, but the automatic standard is 11.43.

On Sunday, the Northridge women’s 400-meter relay team of sophomores Joy Polk, Cela McPherson-Taylor, Erin Morris and Vines timed a Northridge season best of 46.15 seconds to finish second in the first heat but fell short of the provisional standard of 45.90.

“We knew it was going to be like this,” said Northridge Coach Don Strametz, noting that the Division I automatic qualifying standards are superior to Northridge’s school records in 26 of 40 events overall, and in 20 of the 21 men’s events. “But I’ve had coaches come up to me today--coaches who I never talked to before--and say, ‘Nice job. You guys are doing a great job for your first year at the Division I level.’ ”