Cal State San Marcos track & field closed out competition at the 2011 NAIA National Championships on Saturday, as three more Cougars earned All-American status to push the squad's total for the season to 8.
As a team, the CSUSM women finished in 14th place at Nationals with 22 points. The men finished 49th with 5 points.
The day started at 6:00 AM local time with the most grueling of all events, the Marathon, with over 100 male and female athletes embarking on the 26.2 mile course. Three of those runners were from CSUSM: Cassidy Reich, Jen Albright, and Claire Hauso, and they did the University proud. Reich, a junior, became the team's sixth All-American of the season, finishing in third place with a time of 3:02:39* 3:00:40.40. Albright just missed the honor, taking eighth place at 3:08.00 3:06:00.90, while Hauso finished 35th at 3:27.43 3:25:43.30.
*Marathon imes were originally recorded incorrectly; all times were reported as being 2 minutes slower than they were. The NAIA has now fixed this on the official results.
Joining Reich as an All-American was senior Brett Campfield, who finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run. Campfield spent the early and middle portion of the race near the back of the pack, but his trademark kick came through for him on the final lap, propelling him to All-American position with a time of 3:47.92.
Less than two hours later, Campfield competed in the 800-meter run, and perhaps feeling the effects of running in his fifth race in three days, came in 9th place with a time of 1:52.31. Campfield finishes his Cal State San Marcos career as a five-time All-American, despite competing for CSUSM for just one calendar year since transferring from Princeton.
After earning All-American status as part of the national championship-winning cross-country team last fall, Suzanne Cornwell earned track & field All-American status on Saturday. Running in the 5,000-meter, the junior finished in third place with a time of 17:13.67.
Reich, Campfield, and Cornwell give Coach Steve Scott eight All-Americans total at the 2011 National Championships, doubling last year's total. On Friday, Andrea Talhami earned All-American in the triple jump, and the women's 4x800-meter relay of Lucia Asbury, Heidi Swanson, Carol Schryver, and Michelle Cruz earned All-American status as well.
CSUSM had some near misses on Saturday as well. In his first National Championships for the Cougars, sophomore distance runner Daniel Lyon finished ninth in the steeplechase, running 9:24.00.
Two days after running in the 10,000-meter, Western Nelson competed in the 5,000-meter finals Saturday night, running 14:46.41 to place 12th.
The National Championships concluded with the 4x400-meter relay, and the CSUSM women's team finished in 8th place, narrowly missing All-American status. The team of Lucia Asbury, Amber Rosario, Michelle Curz, and Briana Gibas posted a time of 3:49.25.
