Sacramento, here I am!

Many apologies for not posting recently...things have been crazy to say the least.

I am here covering the NCAA Track and Field Championships for both CBS Sports and Northwest Runner magazine.

Some quick highlights so far:

For state of Washington fans, Diana Pickler of Washington State, the heavy favorite, was DQ'd in the heptathlon 200 meter run, the final event of day one of the two-day event, for running out of her lane.

Washington State's John Casselman finished third in his quarterfinal in the 400 hurdles, running 51.88.

Wazzu's Justin Woods finished seventh in heat 3 of the 200m in 21.68.

In the women's javelin, Eastern Washington's Carolee Gutierrez had the day's third longest throws in qualifying for the finals with a toss of 170-1.

The University of Portland had three runners in the men's 10000 tonight, all of whom have Washington state connections. David Kinsella (Inglemoor HS) finished 12th with a time of 29:15.47. John Moore (Olympia HS) was 18th in 29:50.61, while Michael Kilburg (O'Dea HS) was 24th in 30:16.06.

Ryan Brown of the Washington Huskies cruised easily in finishing third in his semi-final (1:48.29) in the 800 meter run, where he's the defending national champion.

The Huskies' James Frederickson finished second in heat 5 of the 400 hurdles in 51.12 to move on.

Norris Frederick finished third in the men's long jump, with a leap of 25-0 1/2. Needless to say, he was disappointed, as he told me in the mixed zone, "In my heart, I felt that I was the best jumper out there, but the results don't show it."

The Huskies' 4 x 400m relay team of Kyle Still, Jeff Gudaitis, James Frederickson, and Alex Harcourt were never a factor, running 3:11.05 to finish sixth in heat 1.

In the women's 800m, Oregon's Rebekah Noble, a Spokane prep standout and the defending national champ, easily qualified for Saturday's final, running 2:04.19.

Brie Felnagle, a Bellarmine Prep standout attending North Carolina (hip #14, pictured above) won her heat of the 1500 in 4:19.86. In the same heat, the Huskies' Amanda Miller finished an oh-so-close fifth (top four automatically qualify for the finals), and had to watch the top nine runners in heat two run faster than her 4:20.58, so she doesn't advance.

I'll post some more later, including some photos that I shot tonight. Photos will be posted soon at http://paulmerca.shutterfly.com.