Saturday saw some current and future Beavers in action in track and field on the state and national level.
Laura Carlyle qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 1500 meters, with a 5th place finish in her heat in the West Regionals meet in Austin, Texas. Carlyle is the first Oregon State athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships two years in a row since 1986.
Football WR Obym Gwacham was unable to advance, however, finishing in a 4 way tie for 22nd in the high jump in the field of 44 jumpers.
Carlyle was 8th overall in the preliminary heats, with a time of 4.30.01. The field of 48 was divided into 4 heats, with the top 5 in each heat plus the next 2 fastest times advancing to what amount to the national quarterfinals.
Two final heats were run, with the top 5 in each heat plus the next 4 fastest times advanced to the NCAA Finals, which will be held June 6-9 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Carlyle finished 5th in her heat, with a time of 4.20.32, one of 4 Pac-12 runners in the event to advance. Oregon's Jordan Hasay won in a time of 4.16.29.
"She really has just done an amazing job with these last three opportunities with her qualifying last spring in the 5,000 meters, this spring when she made it to the NCAA Indoor Championships for the mile, and now to be able to come here and run all the way into the end of May is amazing," coach Kelly Sullivan said.
Gwacham cleared a heigth of 6'9 3/4", and was one of 9 with that as a highest mark cleared, but placed ahead of 5 others on fewer misses. Gwacham has gone over 7 feet in the past, with a PR of 7' 1 3/4" in 2010, but was bothered in Austin by his knee. 7' 2 1/2" was the highest bar cleared in Austin, by 5 different jumpers, with Kansas St.'s Eric Kynard winning with no misses.
"He's disappointed because he had high hopes coming in, but he has had a bit of a sore knee on his take-off leg," Sullivan said, "so he probably didn't get as much jumping in this last week or so because of what he was cleared to do. His height over the bar was phenomenal, but his timing was off today, and this event is all about timing. He really is one of the best two sport athletes in the country."
Future Oregon St. offensive lineman Isaac Seumalo took second at the OSAA Oregon 4A/5A/6A state track meet in Eugene in the shot put with a throw 53' 8.5" competing for Corvallis High. Seumalo also tossed the discus 147' 11", good for fourth place.
Seumalo hopes to compete in the throws at the collegiate level, further expanding the events the football/track and field program competes in.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com