NORMAN, Okla. ? North Dakota State freshman Leslie Brost finished fourth in the pole vault to earn a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships and sophomore Whitney Carlson set a school record in the 400 meter hurdles to lead the Bison at day one of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
Brost cleared 13-5 ¾ to finish fourth in the pole vault. The top five finishers in each event qualify for the national championships held June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Carlson set a school record of 58.45 in the 400 meter hurdles preliminaries and will compete in the finals on Saturday at 6:40 p.m. She was second in her heat and posted the third fastest prelim time on the day. She has now set school records in four events, including the 100 meters, the 100 hurdles and the long jump. Junior Devon Wentz also competed in the event and finished 13th in 1:03.10.
In the 800 meters, senior Laura Hermanson and sophomore Brittany Gigstead both advanced to tomorrow's finals. Gigstead posted a personal best time of 2:06.87, the third fastest preliminary time of the day. Hermanson won her heat in 2:09.37. The 800 finals are at 6:25 p.m. Saturday.
Carlson also competed in the 100 meter hurdles. She tied for 10th in 13.76 and just missed making the finals by two spots. In the long jump, Carlson finished 20th with a leap of 18-9 ¼. Freshman Kristen Killoran also competed in the long jump and came in 14th with a mark of 19-2.
Freshman Semehar Tesfaye finished 13th in the 5,000 meter finals with a time of 17:09.23.
Along with the two finals on Saturday, senior Amanda Benz will be competing in the shot put and Killoran will compete in the triple jump. The team of Hermanson, Gigstead, Heather Zander and Amy Bestland will also run the 4x400 relay. Live statistics for tomorrow's events are available at http://www.deltatiming.com/results/events_byschedule.aspx?yf=2009&mf=midwest
Saturday's Events
Shot Put Trials & Finals ? 12:15 p.m. ? Amanda Benz
Triple Jump Trials & Finals ? 1:00 p.m. ? Kristen Killoran
400 Hurdles Finals ? 6:40 p.m. ? Whitney Carlson (58.45)
800 meters Finals - 6:25 p.m. ? Laura Hermanson (2:09.37), Brittany Gigstead (2:06.87)
4x400 Relay ? 8:05 p.m. ? Hermanson, Bestland, Gigstead, Zander
