Sprinter's School Record Highlights Final Day of Cal/Nevada Track and Field Championships

Senior Jacqueline Rose was named the female track athlete of the meet after winning the 400-meter dash on Sunday. Courtesy: UCSD

After registering several impressive results on the opening day of competition on Saturday, it was more of the same for UC San Diego on Sunday as the Tritons posted a pair of top 11 finishes at the 2012 Cal/Nevada Collegiate Championships.

Competing against some of the best collegiate programs from California and Nevada, UCSD finished eighth out of 19 teams in the men's competition, while the Triton women placed 11th in a 20-team field.

UC Santa Barbara scored 132 points to win the team title on the men's side, while San Diego State finished with 130 points to claim the top spot in the women's competition. UCSD scored 43 points on the men's side and finished with 37.50 on the women's.

"This was really a great meet for us," women's head coach Darcy Ahner said. "I thought we had a lot of outstanding performances against very strong competition. We will really look to build off of this effort heading into the last half of the season."

Senior sprinter Jacqueline Rose had the big highlight for the Tritons on Sunday, winning the 400-meter dash with a school record time of 53.30. Her mark, which surpassed Christine Merrill's 2010 time of 54.76, was good enough for an NCAA Division II automatic qualifier in the event.

The San Jose native was voted the female track athlete of the meet for her performance, becoming the second straight Triton to take home the award. Kelly Fogarty earned the honor after winning both the 100 and 200 at the Cal/Nevada Championships last season.

"It was really exciting to see Jacqueline's elevation to the next level today," Ahner continued. "She had a very strong performance and beat out some great sprinters from D-I schools."

The women's 4x400 relay team took third place as Sabrina Pimentel, Lauren Irish, Deyna Roberson and Rose teamed to post a final time of 3:43.89 against a field that featured teams from Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UCSB and Cal State Fullerton. The time ranks No. 2 all-time at UCSD.

CSUN won the event with a time of 3:39.42.

Irish also scored for the Tritons in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing sixth with a final time of 62.52.

On the men's side, Ka Wai Ng finished third in the triple jump with a leap of 49'2". Zach Nagengast was sixth in the discus throw with a toss of 154'6", while Dustin Harris placed sixth in the 800-meter run at 1:53.55.

Next up for the Tritons is the 2012 Sun Angel Track Classic, which is scheduled for April 6-7 on the campus of Arizona State.