April 2, 2007
FRESNO, Calif. - The Santa Clara track team spent the weekend in Fresno at the Cal-Nevada Championships hosted by Fresno State University. The Broncos had a tough first day as they fought for spots in Saturday's finals. Only Sophomore Veronica Vazquez prevailed and finished ninth in Saturday's women's 1500 meter finals. Vazquez joined Adriane Puetz, Danielle Miller and Stephen Koch, all of which finished in the Top-10 in their events.
Friday's preliminaries were particularly disappointing because the Broncos came so close. In many cases, Santa Clara was mere seconds from earning spots in Saturday's finals. In the men's 1500 meters, Tony Dipre and John Laughlin's finishes of 4:06.89 and 4:06.95, respectively, missed the last qualification time of 4:05.76 by less than two seconds.
But the highlight of the day was the performance by the women. Sophomore Veronica Vazquez took third place in her heat of the women's 1500 meters with a time of 4:42.68, earning and automatic qualification in Saturday's finals. Also on the women's side was a 10th place finish by junior Adriane Puetz in the women's 5000 meters with a time of 18:02.84. Not far behind was freshman Annie Murphy-Hagan, who finished 16th with a time of 18:27.70.
In Saturday's action Vazquez took ninth place in the women's 1500 meters with a final time of 4:45.25.
In addition to Vazquez's strong performance, the Broncos received great finishes from Danielle Miller and Stephen Koch in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Miller finished third in her heat with a time of 11:35.50, shattering her previous time from last week's Hornet Invitational by ten seconds. Freshman Stephen Koch followed suit, cutting ten seconds of his season-best 9:55.87 with a final time of 9:44.43. Both Miller and Koch finished 9th overall in their races.
In other Santa Clara track action, junior Mike Delaurenti was the lone Bronco to participate in the Stanford Invitational. In Friday's men's 5000 meter finals, Delaurenti took 25th place with a time of 15:08.18, his first 5000 meter race of the season.
Next Saturday, April 6, Santa Clara will take part in the Johnny Mathis Invitational in San Francisco, Calif.
