GULF SHORES, Ala. – The Cal State San Marcos men's 4x800-meter relay team earned NAIA All-American honors, the women's 4x800-meter relay team set a new school record and Justin Washington qualified for the 800m final in an eventful day two of the NAIA Outdoor National Track & Field Championships on Friday at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium.

The men's 4x800-meter relay squad of Fereon Meferia, Alex Gronotte, Luis Vasquez and Washington finished eighth overall with a time of 7:39.02. They reached the mark in the second heat of a two heat timed final. Each of the top-nine team times occurred in the second heat. The eighth place finish also earned the men's team their first point of the competition.

The women's 4x800-meter relay of Charlotte Kuzminsky, Natalie Rodriguez, Salena Gallardo and Cristen Lane time of 9:05.03 broke the previous school record of 9:05.77 set at the 2011 NAIA National Championships. The time occurred in a fast second heat of a two heat timed final. The squad finished in eighth place in the heat and a ninth overall, just .3 seconds shy of taking home All-American honors.

A two heat timed final format for the relays was utilized due to the cancellation of yesterday's prelims. All 28 women's teams and 23 men's teams competed in the final. 

A dive at the finish line helped Washington secure second place in his 800m heat, automatically advancing him to Saturday's final. His time of 1:52.393 earned him the automatic spot by .006 seconds ahead of the third place finisher. His time was fifth best overall on the day.

Ten Cougars will be competing for national championship titles in six different events during the final day of competition tomorrow.

It will be an early day for Kate Bouvatte and Bethany Gracia, who will be running in the women's marathon beginning at 4 a.m. PDT. Daniel Ybarra and Enrique Ramirez will be running in the men's marathon, which is scheduled to start at the same time.

In the women's 1500m final, Kuzminsky (4:35.73) and Rodriguez (4:35.75) both ran personal-bests in the 1500m prelims on Thursday to qualify eighth and ninth respectively. The final is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PDT.

Melissa Olmos will be competing in the high jump final beginning at 12 p.m. PDT.

Ryan Maize will run in the 3000-meter steeplechase final and Washington will race in the 800m final.

Closing out the competition for the Cougars will be Steven Ing, who will compete in the 5000m final slated to begin at 3:55 p.m. PDT.

Also in Friday's competition, Brittany Hollie finished third in her heat and fifteenth overall in the 100-meter hurdles prelims with a time of 14.67.

Terra McGinnis placed 17^th in the 10,000m final (39.52.86) and Lane (2:17.36) finished sixth in her 800m heat and 26^th overall in the 800m prelims.

Frederik Jahr tied for 16^th in the high jump with a leap of 2.01m. It was a big day for Jahr, who was also named to the Capital One Academic All-District® 4 Men's Track & Field/Cross Country Team.

The NAIA also announced its 2014-15 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes on Friday afternoon. In order to qualify for the Scholar-Athlete award, student-athletes must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved at least junior academic status. CSUSM had five total student-athletes named to the team: Olmos, Ace Fletcher, Jason Bandong, Zach Laurenzana and Caesar Castillo.