Junior pole-vaulter Jade Riebold vaulted 4.35 meters to launch herself into the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field West Regional as the fourth-ranked athlete.

Nine others will join her in Austin, Texas for the meet Thursday.  

Among Eastern’s other contenders are junior Mick Viken and senior Dominique Hall who will both make their third consecutive appearances in the regional contest.

Viken and Riebold will both be going to the meet for pole-vault while Hall will be running the 100-meter hurdles.

The 10 athletes left for Austin early Tuesday morning.  Tom Akers, Director of Track and Field, said he plans to take a relaxed approach to practice this week and prepare his team mentally for the competition ahead.

“There’s nothing we can do physically right now that’s going to make them better,” Akers said.  “The only thing we can do is overwork them and make them tired going in, so (we will) just keep the confidence levels high, make sure the body is feeling good and rested and well.”

Among the others traveling to Austin is freshman Calvin Edwards who finished in the 28th spot in the 200-m dash. Junior distance runner Pablo Ramirez will be making his regional debut in the 10 kilometer run.  

Despite taking lower numbers to the regional, Akers remains content.

“I’m very pleased,” Akers said. “It’s not as big of a group as we took last year, but we took two relays which usually ends up taking a lot more people.”

The regional meet will be Thursday and conclude on Saturday at the Mike A. Myers Track & Soccer Stadium on the University of Texas campus.  The top 12 athletes for each event will move on to the national championships which will be June 5-8 at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. 

Michael Spencer can be reached at 

581-2812 or [email protected]