Noble, Pendergrass highlight first day

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Spokane’s Rebekah Noble won her preliminary heat in the 800 meters and David Pendergrass advanced through qualifying in the high jump – but otherwise it was mostly dismal day for Inland Northwest athletes at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Among the entrants from area colleges, only Washington State’s Matt Lamb and Justin Woods made it through the qualifying. Lamb, a freshman, was a surprising fourth in the discus trials with a throw of 187 feet, 1 inch, while Woods sneaked into the 200 semifinals with a fourth-place heat finish in 21.27 seconds.

No finals were held Wednesday, the first of four sessions. Texas’ Troy Hardee took a commanding lead of more than 300 points after the first five events of the decathlon, and USC’s Virginia Powell of Seattle set a meet record in the semis of the 100 hurdles, clocking 12.55.

Noble, a Rogers High School graduate competing for Oregon, won the fourth of four heats in the 800 in a time of 2 minutes, 6.37 seconds – third best among all qualifiers. Cal’s Alyshia Johnson, second to Noble in the Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional, led all qualifiers with a 2:05.10.

Pendergrass, a Central Valley alum and a senior at Brigham Young, jumped 7 feet, 1 1/2 inches to become one of 13 high jumpers to advance to the finals.

Area athletes failing to advance included Idaho’s Bevin Kennelly in the women’s steeplechase (10:27.78, 10th in her heat) and Russ Winger in the discus (179-11, 14th) and EWU javelin thrower Stephanie Ulmer (133-4, 27th). Washington State saw its men’s 4x100 relay team disqualified in the heats, while Haley Paul (17:32.91 in the 5,000) and Brandi Probasco-Canda (55.11 in the 400) were next-to-last in their events.

Former Pullman High School athlete Kate Hutchinson of USC, a top contender in the discus, failed to advance to the finals after throwing 160-5.