March 26, 2005

On Day 2 of the Stanford Invitational great northern California conditions for the second day in a row and a standing room only audience in attendance set the tone for more great Gaucho marks. The highlight of the afternoon came from Scott McConville when he broke the eight-year-old metric mile school record previously held by alum Dave Cullum.

A junior from Watsonville, CA, McConville entered his 1500m heat with a personal best of 3:49.24 which he set in 2003. He shot out from the start setting him up for a potentially great time by coming through 400m in 60 seconds. About mid pack entering the 2nd lap he settled into a fast pace with teammate Mike Chavez (So.) following close behind. The junior came through 800m in 2:02 and with one lap remaining was right on school record pace.

Chavez, moved just a little ahead of him when with 250m to go McConville unleashed a vicious finishing kick leaving the pack and teammate behind to win in 3:46.77 eclipsing Cullum's record of 3:46.84 set in 1997. Chavez finished in 3:47.61, a four second personal best, placing him 4th on the Gaucho All-Time list. Both marks qualified them for the NCAA Regional championships in Eugene, OR.

In the 800m, approximately two hours later, Tetlo Emmen (So.), the 2004 Western Regional Champion, also qualified for this year's regional championship by setting a good early season mark of 1:49.38. Ben Armel (Sr.) ran a seasonal best of 1:51.76, he was last year's Western Regional runner-up.

Continuing with the distances, Scott Brandos (Jr.) in the 3000m steeplechase just missed the Western Regional qualifying mark of 9:08.15 when he raced to a 9:09.23. For Brandos, that time marked a definitive return after being sidelined by injuries over the last two years. In the women's 3000m steeplechase, Laura Zung (Jr.) continued to drop her time by racing to a 11:17.33 moving her up to #5 on the all time Gaucho list.

In the sprints, Kylie McCuen (Jr.) ran a seasonal best of 55.23 in the top section of the women's 400m. McCuen is one of the favorites to run away with the Big West title in May.

On the field, Jeff Stewart (Fr.) tossed a three foot personal best in the shot put, heaving the stone 52'11 placing him 10th on the Gaucho All-Time list displacing Larry Rocker's mark of 51'05.25 from 1959. Eugene Bradley (Jr.) threw the hammer over the 190' mark again this season while Amy Haapanen (Jr.) threw 182'11" to finish 2nd in her flight.

In the jumps, Kent Centers won his flight by clearing 6'08.45" in the high jump. Devon Tracy (So.) in the women's high jump just missed a regional qualifying mark after clearing 5'07.75" to also win her flight. Kim Christiansen backed up her school record performance from a week ago by triple jumping 38'03 today at Stanford.

After two days on the farm in Palo Alto, CA, the Gauchos walked away with another new school record and six new Regional qualifying marks. They travel next to Long Beach, CA for the Big West Challenge Cup in a week versus Fullerton, Long Beach St. and UC Irvine.