WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION - TRACK & FIELD RELEASE DIR: Rod Commons ASSISTANT DIRECTORS: Linda Chalich, Craig Lawson, Bill Stevens, Rachel Porter PHONE: (509) 335-COUG FAX: (509) 335-0267 Track contact: Linda Chalich ([email protected]) June 5, 2006 Cougars Travel to NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships FOURTEEN COUGS TO COMPETE IN 11 EVENTS AT NCAA TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS: Washington State University will be represented by five women and six men competing at the Men’s 85th and Women’s 25th Annual NCAA Div. I Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 7-10, at the A. G. Spanos Sports Complex on the Sacramento State campus…four days of competition will showcase action from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. PT each night except Saturday when events end at 3 p.m.…team scoring for all events is 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1…results can be obtained at the NCAA website, www.ncaasports.com. COUGARS COMPETING AT THE 2006 NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: NCAA Event Name Mark/Time National Standing W 400m Dash Brandi Probasco-Canda 54.17 27th W 5000m Haley Paul 16:20.86 18th W High Jump McKinnon Hanson 1.75m / 5-8 3/4 t26th W Pole Vault Tamara Diles 4.25m / 13-11 1/4 4th W Heptathlon Julie Pickler 5734 points 4th Diana Pickler 5579 points 5th M 100m Dash James McSwain 10.31 25th Jaycee Robertson 10.38 26th M 200m Dash Justin Woods 20.66 t17th M 400m Hurdles John Cassleman 49.53 5th M 4x100m Relay Martin Boston, Brian Woods, McSwain, J. Woods, Robertson 39.67 12th M Discus Matt Lamb 57.84m / 189-9 18th M Javelin Jon Jeffreys 68.95m / 226-2 18th LIVE TV COVERAGE OF 2006 NCAA TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2006 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships will feature 4½ hours of live television coverage…CSTV will broadcast two hours of competition (5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific Time) Friday, June 9, a first for next-to-last day of the NCAA Championships to be televised live…CBS will air 2½ hours of live coverage (12:30 to 3 p.m. Pacific Time) Saturday, June 10, the final day of the four-day collegiate championships…this is the first time since 1982 the NCAA Track and Field Championships have been televised live on network television with the total of 4½ hours of live coverage marking the most live coverage in the 86-year history of the NCAA Division I Track and Field…this is only the second time the women’s portion of the meet will be televised live in its 25-year history. ABOUT THE COUGAR COACHES: Head coach Rick Sloan is in his 33rd season with the Cougar track program; 12th year as a head coach, 11th year with combined men’s and women’s program...he is joined by associate coach Debra Farwell, and assistant coaches Jason Drake (Head Coach Cross Country), Mark Macdonald, Ellannee Richardson and Matt McGee…volunteer coach Andrea Thornton returns for her third year with the program…Farwell, Macdonald, Richardson, McGee and Thornton all competed for WSU. NATIONAL POLLS: The May 31 Trackwire Top 25 Team rankings, the WSU women’s team is ranked 21st and the men’s team is unranked…teams holding top rankings this week are Texas women and Florida State men…USC (2nd) is the top Pac-10 women’s team ranked as are Arizona’s men (t5th)…Trackwire 25 projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualifying competitions across the country…this projection is generated by scoring the Dandy Dozen, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event…four Cougs are included in Trackwire Online’s Dandy Dozen lists, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event…WSU women ranked include Julie Pickler, 4th in the heptathlon, Diana Pickler, 6th in the heptathlon, and Tamara Diles, 5th in the pole vault…John Cassleman is ranked 10th in the men’s 400m hurdles…neither WSU team is ranked in the May 30 U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Assoc. Top 20. -more- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION - TRACK & FIELD RELEASE June 5, 2006 WSU Men's & Women's Schedule of Events 2006 Outdoor Track & Field Championships Wednesday, June 7 3:20 p.m. Men’s 4x100m Relay Semifinal Boston, B. Woods, McSwain, J. Woods, Robertson 5:30 p.m. Men’s 200m Dash Round 1 Justin Woods 5:50 p.m. Women’s 400m Dash Round 1 Brandi Probasco-Canda 7:00 p.m. Women’s High Jump Qualifying McKinnon Hanson Men’s Discus Qualifying Matt Lamb 7:50 p.m. Women’s 5000m Semifinal Haley Paul Thursday, June 8 1:15 p.m. Men’s Javelin Qualifying Jon Jeffreys 3:50 p.m. Men’s 100m Dash Round 1 James McSwain, Jaycee Robertson 4:30 p.m. Women’s Pole Vault Qualifying Tamara Diles Men’s 400m Hurdles Round 1 John Cassleman 5:35 p.m. Men’s 100m Dash Semifinal McSwain, Robertson Friday, June 9 10:00 a.m. Women’s Heptathlon 100m Hurdles* Diana Pickler, Julie Pickler 3:45 p.m. Women’s High Jump Final McKinnon Hanson 4:10 p.m. Men’s 4x100m Relay Final Boston, B. Woods, McSwain, J. Woods, Robertson 5:25 p.m. Women’s 400m Dash Final Brandi Probasco-Canda 5:55 p.m. Men’s 200m Dash Semifinal Justin Woods 6:15 p.m. Men’s Discus Final Matt Lamb 6:20 p.m. Men’s 400m Hurdles Semifinal John Cassleman 7:00 p.m. Women’s 5000m Final Haley Paul Saturday, June 10 10:30 a.m. Women’s Heptathlon Long Jump* Diana Pickler, Julie Pickler 10:00 a.m. Men’s Javelin Final Jon Jeffreys 11:45 p.m. Women’s Pole Vault Final Tamara Diles 12:42 p.m. Men’s 100m Dash Final James McSwain, Jaycee Robertson 1:02 p.m. Men’s 400m Hurdles Final John Cassleman 1:10 p.m Women’s 400m Dash Final Brandi Probasco-Canda 1:40 p.m. Men’s 200m Dash Final Justin Woods * Start time of first event of the Heptathlon is listed each day; there are 30 minutes between events. LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Six Cougars are returning to the NCAA Track Championships after competing last year…Washington State women’s team scored eight points and tied for 32nd in the team standings while the Cougar men scored four points (t46th)…Julie Pickler and Diana Pickler finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the heptathlon…Tamara Diles tied for seventh in the women’s pole vault…Tyson Byers finished fifth in the men’s pole vault…other Cougars competing included John Cassleman 17th in the 400m hurdles, Drew Ulrick 19th in the discus, James McSwain 21st men’s 100m dash, and Jaycee Robertson 22nd in the men’s 200m dash…McSwain and Robertson also competed as members of the 4x100m relay squad in 2004…Diana Pickler finished 27th in the heptathlon in 2003…three seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen make up the Cougar squad at the 2006 national outdoor meet. ABOUT THE NCAA-BOUND COUGARS (listed alphabetically): M 400m Hurdles - John Cassleman (junior, Pullman, Wash.) • 2006 - 4th at NCAA West Region (51.26 final, 51.06 prelim); 2nd at Pac-10 Championships (PR 49.53) • 2005 - 17th at NCAA Champ (51.32) - missed advancing to semifinal by five one-thousandths of a second; 2nd at NCAA West Region (50.93); 4th at Pac-10 Championships (PR 50.50) • Both parents are former WSU women’s team head coaches…Jessica Cassleman (1983-84) and Rob Cassleman (1985-95) -more- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION - TRACK & FIELD RELEASE June 5, 2006 W Pole Vault - Tamara Diles (senior, Bellevue, Wash.) • 2006 - 2nd at NCAA West Region (4.16m/13-7 3/4); 2nd at Pac-10 Championships (4.15m/13-7 1/4); set school record of 4.25m/13-11 1/4 (4/22/06, Pullman); 10th at NCAA indoor Champs (4.00m/13-1 1/2i) • 2005 - t7th at NCAA Championships (4.10m/13-5 1/4); t8th at NCAA West Region (3.96m/12-11 3/4); 2nd Pac-10 Championships (4.05m/13-3 1/2); 9th at NCAA Indoor Championships (4.10m/13-5 1/4i); set school record 4.15m/13- 7 1/4 (4/30/05, Seattle) • 2002 - 3rd at NCAA Indoor Championships (4.25m/13-11 1/4i); set school indoor record of 4.35m/14-3 1/4i at 2002 Pole Vault Summit W High Jump - McKinnon Hanson (sophomore, LaPush, Wash.) • 2006 - t4th at NCAA West Region (1.71m/5-7 1/4) but dropped to 6th after jump-off; 6th at Pac-10 Championships (PR 1.75m/5-8 3/4) • 2005 - 6th at Pac-10 Championships (1.70m/5-7) M Javelin - Jon Jeffreys (sophomore, Spokane Valley, Wash.) • 2006 - 6th at NCAA West Region (66.16m/217-1); 5th at Pac-10 Championships (65.39m214-6); threw PR of 68.95m/226-2 (3/25/06, Los Angeles) • 2005 - 20th at NCAA West Region (55.48m/182-0); 12th at Pac-10 Championships (58.36m/191-6); PR of 63.50m/208-4 (4/30/05, Seattle) M Discus - Matt Lamb (freshman, Emmett, Idaho) • 2006 - 7th at NCAA West Region (52.21m/187-8); 3rd at Pac-10 Championships (PR and WSU freshman record 57.84m/189-9) M 100m Dash - James McSwain (senior, Las Vegas) • 2006 - 5th at NCAA West Region (10.44); missed Pac-10 Championships with injured ankle; top season time 10.16W/10.31 • 2005 - 21st at NCAA Championships (10.53); 2nd NCAA West Region (10.48); 2nd Pac-10 Championships (10.42); won Mt.