Noble adds West Region 800 title to Pac-10 crown

Rebekah Noble is two-thirds of the way toward her own Triple Crown.

Already Pacific-10 Conference champion in the 800 meters, the Oregon freshman from Spokane won again Saturday at the NCAA West Region Track and Field Championships in Provo, Utah.

She led a group of 14 athletes with Inland Northwest connections who qualified for the NCAA championships in two weeks in Sacramento, Calif., by placing in the top five, or top three relay teams. Other local athletes may still earn at-large berths based on season-best marks, a process that will be completed Tuesday.

Once again, it was Cal’s Alysia Johnson pushing Noble to the finish line, but this time it wasn’t quite as close. The Rogers High School graduate won in 2 minutes, 6.45 seconds while Johnson ran 2:08.03 – almost twice the gap that separated them at the Pac-10s.

Washington State didn’t have any individual winners, but the Cougars advanced seven athletes to the national meet – led by two regional runners-up, pole vaulter Tamara Diles and the men’s 4x100 relay team of Brian and Justin Woods, James McSwain and Jaycee Robertson.

Diles had an upset in the making, leading the vault with no misses through 13 feet, 7 3/4 inches, while Pac-10 champ Chelsea Johnson needed three tries to make her opening height of 12-11 3/4. But Johnson got over 13-11 3/4 on her second attempt, while Diles and Oregon’s Emily Enders missed all three chances.

The 4x100 relay team clocked 39.93 seconds, well back of champion USC’s 39.68.

Robertson also qualified in two individual events with fourth-place finishes in the 100 (10.41 seconds) and 200 (20.90, wind-aided). Justin Woods continued to surprise. The 5-foot-6 freshman, who shaved nearly a half-second off his best with a 20.66 run in the 200 prelims, showed it wasn’t a fluke by finishing third in 20.78.

McSwain, who missed the Pac-10 meet with a sprained ankle, also qualified fifth in the 100 in 10.44. Other NCAA qualifiers for the Cougs were 400 hurdler John Cassleman (fourth in 51.26) and 400 runner Brandi Probasco-Canda (fourth in 55.05).

Spokane senior Alex Moon became Eastern Washington’s lone NCAA qualifier with a 51.50 clocking for fifth in the 400 hurdles. He also anchored the 4x400 relay team that finished seventh, but shattered its two-week-old school record by more than 2 seconds in 3:09.72.

Three Idaho athletes posted qualifying efforts – shot putter Russ Winger (fifth at 59-11 3/4), Dee Olson in the women’s 1,500 (fourth, 4:25.42) and Bevin Kennelly in the women’s steeplechase (fifth, 10:36.80). Vandals hammer thrower Jenn Broncheau also broke her school record with a 190-10 spin.

Central Valley graduate David Pendergrass of host Brigham Young also advanced, tying for second in the high jump with a leap of 6-11. One-time Pullman High standout Kate Hutchinson of USC won the discus at 181-6.

•Puget Sound’s Jena Robinson of Spokane earned All-America honors by taking seventh in the triple jump at the NCAA Division III championships in Lisle, Ill. The Lewis and Clark graduate leaped 38-2, a season best.

Whitworth’s Angela Florence did not advance to the finals of the javelin after a best throw of 133-10.

•Cameron Schwehr of Mt. Spokane, a senior at Kansas, ran 10th in the men’s 1,500 final in the NCAA Midwest Regional in 3:53.55.

•Seattle Pacific’s Teona Perkins, a Community Colleges of Spokane graduate, was 16th in the high jump at the NCAA Division II meet in Emporia, Kan., clearing 5-3 1/4.