Cal Heads to Seattle for MPSF Indoor Championships

Cal Heads to Seattle for MPSF Indoor Championships
Wright, Garrett, Coe look to defend 2008 conference titles


Feb. 25, 2009

2009 MPSF Indoor Championships Page | Entry Lists | Event Schedule


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This Week
California heads to the MPSF Indoor Championships at the Dempsey Indoor Facility Friday and Saturday, Feb. 27-28, in Seattle. More Golden Bears look to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships March 13-14 as well as claim conference titles. Three Bears aim to defend their 2008 MPSF titles in senior Ed Wright (men's high jump), junior Michael Coe (men's 3000-meter run) and sophomore Cherrelle Garrett (women's 60-meter dash). Wright, an All-American and two-time MPSF defending high-jump champion, looks to cap his Cal career with another strong finish in the indoor season.

Coe and senior teammate Katie Morgan own Cal's two automatic qualifiers this season. At the Husky Classic on Feb. 14 in Seattle, Coe ran an NCAA-qualifying time of 7:48.05 in the 3000. Morgan, the 2008 NCAA outdoor champion in the women's pole vault, picked up an automatic qualifying mark of 13-9.25 (4.20 meters) in the pole vault in the Cherry and Silver Invitational on Jan. 24 in Albuquerque, N.M.

A Look Back at the
2008 MPSF Indoor Championships
Cal claimed four conference titles at the MPSF Indoor Championships on March 1, 2008, at Dempsey Indoor. The Bears' men placed second as a team, while the Cal women finished fourth. Senior All-American Alysia Johnson set an MPSF record and the school indoor record when she won the 800-meter title. Ed Wright won the high jump, Cherrelle Garrett won the 60-meter dash and Michael Coe won the 3000.

Oregon won the men's team title and Arizona State won the women's crown.

Johnson took top honors in the 800 with a record-setting time of 2:03.39 and automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Wright won the high jump title with a mark of 2.21 meters (7-3.00). Garrett provisionally qualified with a personal-best time of 7.40 to win the 60-meter title. Coe posted a lifetime-best 3000 time of 7:59.75 and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Also notching a new PR in the 3000 was sophomore Yosef Ghebray, who ran a provisional-qualifying 8:02.68.

Also provisionally qualifying for the indoor national championships were junior All-American high jumper Inika McPherson, senior shot putter Craig Kent, junior Steven Conrad and sophomore Kyle Mills-Bunje in the heptathlon and junior Kellan Patterson in the 60-meter dash. Kent, Conrad, Mills-Bunje and Patterson reached PRs in those events.

Cal's women's 4x400-meter relay, consisting of Johnson and juniors Kandi Bonty, Mackenzie Pierce and Evelyn Smith, provisionally qualified for the indoor national championships with a time of 3:39.73.

On Feb. 29, senior Thomas Mack broke the Cal indoor record in the 60-meter hurdles with a provisional qualifying time of 7.89. Freshman Kari Karlsson posted a provisional qualifying and an Icelandic record-setting time of 14:08.58 in the men's 5000 meters.

In the women's pole vault, freshman Allison Stokke set both the school indoor and freshman records with her mark of 13-1.00 (3.99m). Katie Morgan set the same mark, as both pole vaulters provisionally qualified for the indoor championships. Stokke and Morgan tied for third in the competition.

The men's distance medley relay, consisting of senior Andres Perezchica, juniors Mark Matusak and Jake Hanson and Coe, provisionally qualified with a time of 9:38.39. The relay placed fourth.

Next Week
Edwards Stadium serves as the site for a March 7 outdoor quad meet including host Cal, Stanford, Fresno State and UC Davis.

Courtesy University of Califoria, Berkeley