Two From Washington State Excel In Modesto

Two Washington State University athletes came away from the prestigious Modesto Relays Saturday with automatic NCAA qualifying marks and lifetime bests.

Junior Demetrius Murray leaped 53 feet, 5-3/4 inches (16.29m) for second place in the invitational men’s triple jump, and sophomore Arend Watkins finished fourth in the invitational 110-meter high hurdles with a wind-aided time of 13.63 seconds.

Murray was the top collegiate finisher in his event. His mark is the fifth-best in WSU history and it ranks fifth among collegians nationally this year. Watkins’ time is the third-fastest nationally and sixth-best in school history.

Both men lead the Pacific-10 Conference in their events.

The annual meet at Modesto, Calif., matches collegiate stars against elite Olympic and club competitors.

Washington State’s Kenyan distance star Bernard Lagat completed a weekend double, winning the mile in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:02.04. Friday night, he won the men’s 5,000 meters at Stanford’s Cardinal Invitational. His 13:36.12 clocking, which guaranteed him a spot in the NCAAs, was the best in the nation for a college runner this year.

Also at Modesto, Washington State’s Cicely Clinkenbeard improved her women’s triple-jump school record to 41-11-1/2 while finishing fifth.

Idaho’s Martijn Ungerer won the men’s 100 meters, in 10.42 seconds, with teammate Nikela Ndebelre finished fifth. Ungerer was sixth in the 200.

Other placings for the Vandals included Joachim Olsen, fourth in the discus at 182 feet; Tawanda Chiwira, sixth in the men’s 400 (46.48) and Jeff High, seventh in the hammer (192-10).

The Vandals ran third in the 400 relay (40.44).

Olympic decathlon champion Dan O’Brien, a former UI star, competed for the Foot Locker Track Club and placed sixth in the discus and in the 110-meter hurdles.

Saturday, in the WSU Invitational at Pullman, Eversley Linley, a former Idaho star, was timed in 10.81 while dead-heating with Pete Lopez of the Community Colleges of Spokane in the 100 and 21.30 seconds for an easy victory in the 200.

Idaho claimed the 4x400 in 3:49.28.

Baseball

Second-seeded College of Southern Idaho won the Region 18 baseball tournament the hard way. CSI, knocked into the loser’s bracket Friday, won three straight games to claim the title in St. George, Utah.

CSI downed top-seeded Dixie 7-6, then rode the hot bat of Coeur d’Alene’s Jesse Hoorelbeke to upend fourth-seeded Salt Lake 13-4 and 10-6. Hoorelbeke was 7 of 8 and knocked in seven runs in the two wins over Salt Lake, which had sent CSI in the loser’s bracket with an 11-3 win Friday night. Ben Johnston, another Coeur d’Alene product, was 2 for 8 in three games Saturday.

CSI faces a three-game series against a Region 1 representative with the winner advancing to the NJCAA World Series.

Women’s fastpitch softball

Second-seeded Ricks College captured the Region 18 softball tournament by shutting out host and top-seeded Utah Valley 4-0 in Orem.