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BROOKINS TO JOIN WALLACE AND ROBINSON AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
6/2/2009
 SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State track & field team already knew it would have two representatives at the 2009 NCAA Div. I Outdoor Championships. That number grew to three on Tuesday as Ronald Brookins was awarded an at-large berth in the 110-hurdles.
Brookins will join Lea Wallace and Renisha Robinson who each qualified in the women's 800 at the championships which will take place June 10-13 in Fayetteville, Ark. Wallace and Robinson earned their way to the meet by finishing third and fifth, respectively, at last weekend's NCAA West Regional at Oregon. The pair became the first duo of Hornet women to qualify for the championship meet in the school's Div. I history. Sacramento State was last represented on the women's side by Nancy Searcy in 2007 (100-hurdles). Prior to that, only Africa Eldridge (800, 1998) and Marisa Avendano (10K, 1997) had qualified.
The men's team has had at least one national qualifier since 2003 and that streak appeared to be in jeopardy following the regional. Brookins nearly earned an automatic berth in two events as he placed sixth in the long jump and seventh in the hurdles but was forced to wait three days to determine his fate. The top five finishers from each of the four regionals automatically move on to the nationals and the remainder of the field is filled based on times from the regular season. Brookins' time of 13.92 seconds at the Mondo Invitational was fast enough for him to claim the last spot in the 26-man field.
The San Diego native is latest addition to a list of championship participants for the Hornet men. Justin Carvalho was the first competitor and earned All-Amerca honors in the hammer in 1997. Tony Galaviz advanced in the 110-hurdles in 2000 before the current streak began with Brandon Parker in the long jump in 2003. The following year, Robert Linkul (hammer) and Andre Wright (110-hurdles) competed in Austin, Texas. The championship meet returned to Sacramento for the next three years and the Hornets featured David Nichols (shot put), Parker (long jump) and Geoff Fong (hammer) in 2005, Nichols (shot put) in 2006, and Nichols (shot put), Raphael McFarlane (100) and Jody Johnson (200). Last year, Johnson qualified in the 100 and 200 and Daniel Imlach made it in the pole vault. Overall, the men have had four All-Americans comprised of Carvalho, Nichols (twice) and Parker.
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