Results
CSUSM Events Schedule

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The Cal State San Marcos men's and women's track teams finished their second day at the NAIA Outdoor Men's and Women's National Championships on Friday at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium

Maurice Strickland was named All-America after a runner-up finish in the decathlon, Greg Talley was named All-America after a sixth place finish in the high jump and the Cougar men's and women's track team qualified for four more respective finals on Saturday.

Strickland broke his own school record with 7,345 total points, 71 behind national champion Kale Wolken of Doane (7,416 points). Strickland is the only CSUSM student-athlete to be named All-America in the decathlon; he earned the honor in 2013 after finishing eighth.

After setting the decathlon championship record with a 400m time of 48.00 on Thursday, Strickland started Friday by winning the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.67. After a third-place finish in the discus, Strickland won his third event of the competition with a jump of 4.90m in the pole vault.

With one event remaining, the 1,500m, Strickland trailed Wolken by 112 points – meaning Strickland would have to beat Wolken by two spots to have a chance at the national title.

Strickland ran an impressive 4:38.24 for a third-place finish, but Wolken was right there behind him, placing fourth with a clip of 4:44.94 to seal a national championship crown.

Strickland's second-place finish is the highest national finish of any CSUSM male student-athlete at the outdoor national championships since Brett Campfield was runner-up in the 1,500m in 2010.

Strickland earned eight points for the men's team, the first points of the weekend for CSUSM. Greg Talley added a sixth place finish in the high jump, matching a CSUSM school record of 2.06 m. His three p0ints give CSUSM a total of 11 points, good enough for ninth place in the team scores.

The top eight finishers in each final earn All-America honors. In addition, team points are awarded with a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring format for the top eight finishers; for first place, one receives 10 points for their team, a second-place finish is worth eight points, a third-place finish is worth six, and so forth.

Amber Rosario snuck into the 100m hurdles final with a time of 14.38. She finished second in her heat and narrowly made the cut with the eighth-fastest time in the event. Rosario is a two-time All-American in the 100m hurdles. Brittany Hollie ran 14.69, the 12^th-fastest time in prelims; she will not move on to the final.

Bouvatte automatically qualified for Saturday's 5,000m final with the 10th-best time in the event, 18:13.62. Bouvatte has already earned All-America honors at the competition, placing third in the 10,000m on Thursday.

The women's 4x400 relay team of Brianna Gibas, Michelle Cruz, Charlotte Kuzminsky and Rosario took sixth in the 4x100 relay with a time of 3:50.00, and will advance to Saturday's final.

The CSUSM women's team sits in 16^th place with nine total points. The Cougars earned all their points in yesterday's events.

The men's 5,000m was a bizarre race. Steven Ing and Western Nelson both ran in the second heat in the event, with Ing and Nelson finishing eighth and 11^th in their heat, respectively. Ing qualified for Saturday's final with a time of 15:04.45, eighth-fastest in the entire field.

Nelson will miss out on Saturday's final, despite beating every runner in the first heat. Nelson ran 15:26.11, four seconds faster than the heat one winner, but missed out on a trip to the final due to a numbers game. Six automatic bids were given to the top six in each heat, in addition to bids being handed to the next four best times – all from heat two. Nelson had the next-best time.

The men had the 17^th-fastest time in the prelims of the 4x400 and did not advance to Saturday's final.

Kelly Skvarna took 11^th in the women's heptathlon with 4,293 total points. Skvarna placed in the top 10 in her three events Friday, the long jump (7^th, 5.15m), javelin (6^th, 37.50m) and 800m (10^th, 2:29.75).

Ciera Stauffer, Lauren Cortez and Daniel Yabarra will run in the marathon final to begin Saturday morning.

The CSUSM men's team has points available in two more events on Saturday. Deng Akuien will compete in the 3,000 steeplechase final, and Ing will take part in the 5,oo0m final.

On the women's side, Bouvatte will race in the 1,500 meters, Rosario in the 100m hurdles and the 4x400 team will compete in a final on Saturday,