Feb. 9, 2011

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK IN CAL TRACK & FIELD: The Golden Bears return to Seattle for the Husky Indoor Classic Friday and Saturday for their final competition before the MPSF Indoor Championships Feb. 25-26 on the University of Washington campus.

Cal set or tied 34 personal bests two weeks ago at the UW Invitational and with an extra week to prepare since the Feb. 11-12 meet, the Bears look to establish additional records this weekend.

The Husky Classic opens Friday with the distance medley relay, 5000 meters and the B section of the pole vault. Kari Karlsson, in the men's 5000, will be the only Bear in action. All other events will be contested Saturday. The first running event will be the women's 3000 at 8 a.m., the first section of the women's high jump leads off the field events at 9:30 a.m.

Cal posted several impressive marks at last year's Husky Classic, including school indoor records in the women's 5K (Deborah Maier, 15:58.49) and men's mile (Mark Matusak, 3:58.36). In addition, Michael Coe beat the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the men's 3000, finishing in 7:52.14.

CAL MEN RANKED 19TH: With three meets under its belt this season, the Cal men's team is ranked 19th in the current U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, up one position from last week. The Bears opened the year 17th and rose as high as 16th in the Jan. 25 ratings.

Weekly Rankings
             Men   Women
Preseason    17    29
January 25   16    30
February 1   20    32
February 8   19    32

SULEMAN SOARS IN LJ & TJ: Sophomore Hammed Suleman is taking off from the runway like no Cal triple jumper in seven years this season. He became the first Golden Bear to surpass 50 feet since 2004 when he soared 50-2.50 at the Cherry & Silver Invitational to open then season. Then in the Bears' last outing at the UW Invite, he won the competition with an effort of 51-5.75. In addition, Suleman captured the UW Invite long jump with a leap of 24-6.50, matching his indoor best from a year ago.

JARVIS, GREGGOR IMPRESS IN 3000: Sophomore Collin Jarvis prevailed in the 3000 meters at the UW Invitational as he broke the 8-minute barrier for the first time, running a PR 7:59.85 to edge out Scott Smith by 0.39 seconds. The mark improved his previous best to nearly 15 seconds and moved him into fifth on Cal's all-time performer list.

Greggor ran a lifetime best by 10 seconds in the women's 3K, taking third at the UW meet in 9:26.68. Only teammate Deborah Maier, who did not compete in Seattle, has run a faster time for the Bears since 1997.

UW INVITATIONAL RECAP: The Golden Bears claimed first place in three events at the UW Invitational Jan. 28-29, with Hammed Suleman taking both the long jump and triple jump and Collin Jarvis prevailing in the 3000 meters. Three members of the squad collected runner-up honors, starting with Patrick Kowalsky, who was second in the shot put with a mark of 54-7.50. Brian Carmichael cleared 6-11 in the high jump for an indoor PR (he jumped 7-0.25 outdoors last May), while Allison Stokke made it over the pole vault bar at 13-5.75, better than any effort last year and only 1.25 inches shy of her indoor best.

In addition, Mike Morrison finished third in the heptathlon with 5,490 points, and Cherrelle Garrett was third in the 60 meters (7.53) and fourth in the 200 (24.76) - both season-best times.